We didn’t start the fire
By Christopher Shaw · Staff Writer
It’s a common college trope that a couple of times a semester, just when you tuck into bed or get in the shower, the fire alarm will go off.
The bathrobe must be thrown on, shoes grabbed and the building vacated into the cold night. Mary Anderson Pew Hall (MAP) residents are already well versed. Cooking alarms turned the whole dorm out at 4 a.m. at the beginning of the semester. However, Memorial Hall residents, in what strangely coincided with the annual campus-wide drills, suffered an improbable number of alarms this past week.
It all started Oct. 20. I was getting ready for a morning swim practice when the alarm went off at 6:35 a.m. It wasn’t terrible timing. I finished brushing my teeth and then proceeded outside with the rest of the hall. Of course, there were grumbles of, “On the one day I get to sleep in!”
I went about my day and later heard of the drill in the TLC. We had just settled in for our 12:30 p.m. math class when SHAL was evacuated. Two in one day was a bit ridiculous. I overheard a campus safety officer saying to a professor, “We sure have a nice week to do these drills. We only do them once a year, you know.”
That evening, I went to bed early and soon drifted off. An alarm woke me again. My personal alarm was set for 6:20 a.m., and this didn’t sound like the Rocky theme. Sure enough, it was another building-wide alarm at 2 a.m. Now, three in 24 hours was surely ridiculous. We all made our way outside to wait in the cold. I must commend the night officers for arriving and evaluating the situation so quickly each time. Still, there wasn’t much to do besides stand around and grumble. We congratulated the couple of scholars, still burning the midnight oil, who brought their work out with them.
Just when I thought everything was over, another alarm went off at 1 a.m. Oct. 23. This time, I was the one still awake. I had two physics problems to go, but it had to wait. By this point, the boys were getting pretty upset. There were talks of roughing up the phantom guy who kept setting them off. A clever fellow suggested deporting offenders to Hicks. We suffered one more at 10 p.m. that same day, but (knock on my wooden desk) the affair seems to be over.
“We’ve had almost double the amount of fire alarms we typically have in one semester all within a week,” Memorial Hall Resident Assistant Samuel Adams said. “Fortunately, Campus Safety was gracious to us and canceled our planned drill that was supposed to take place that week.”
I reached out to Director of Campus Safety Seth VanTil about the campus-wide drills.
“It is important to practice fire evacuations so that building occupants know what to do when evacuating for a potential fire,” VanTil said. “When we conduct drills, we have opportunities to remind people about proper evacuation processes and where to gather safely.”
From what I experienced, even SHAL, packed for noon classes, emptied efficiently.
Memorial Hall Resident Director Noah Crawford emailed about proper exiting procedures and not entering until the all-clear is given. He also noted students should avoid spraying fragrances or disinfectants near the alarms and tossing things in the hallways. He said these two points provide evidence of the nature of some accidental alarms.
“All but two alarms in Memorial Hall were caused by cooking, steam or accidents where the device was accidentally pulled or bumped in some manner,” VanTil said. “Two of the alarms originating in the same first-floor room led to that device being replaced.”
Crawford said Campus Safety communicates with him about the nature of fire alarms and resident assistants are informed as appropriate.
So, what are the takeaways? Well, first, we can expect the freshmen boys to get up to their fair share of trouble. Hopefully they can keep shenanigans out of alarms’ way from here on out.
“All fire systems on campus are inspected and tested annually, and all are functioning properly,” VanTil said. “Campus Safety monitors the alarm system, and we receive a notification at the office and via cell phone if there is a problem with any of the systems that need to be investigated.”
The RDs and security officers work well to keep us safe and address situations effectively as they come our way.
In a way, a sort of hall bonding resulted from the drills.
“All the guys cooperate well and have a good spirit about it despite the frustration,” Adams said. “It’s become somewhat of a bonding experience to blast ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ on a speaker as we all file out of the building and go stand in the cold.”
At any rate, we’re probably the best trained for a real emergency.
