Midd Briefs Spate of False Fire Alarms Scorches Campus

Author: Emily Thaler

On Monday, March 31, several false fire alarms were reported in Gifford, Ross, Forest, McCullough, Voter and Starr Halls. The alarms were caused by tampering with the pull boxes within each of the buildings. A report on the incident also noted that in addition to the false alarms "someone discharged an extinguisher at Hesselgrave House, and the stand open valves for the Fire System at Old Chapel were also tampered with." The following day more false alarms went off at Starr and Forest Halls.
Director of Public Safety Lisa Boudah commented on the incidents, saying, "We did respond to multiple alarms and are now working with the commons deans to get things back to normal."
Tampering with a fire alarm, which is illegal, also poses serious problems with the fire system. The fire system as a whole comprises several parts which detect and combat fire. The pull boxes, which were activated in the recent false alarm incidents, work to detect fire. The levers are to be pulled only when one suspects a possible fire in the building. Boudah remarked that tampering with pull boxes had not happened much on campus prior to the recent events. She noted that misuse of fire extinguishers, like what happened in Hesselgrave House, was one of the biggest problems facing the fire system. Damage to smoke detectors is also a common problem to the system, as they can sometimes be knocked down by dorm residents. Smoke detectors can also be set off by students smoking or cooking in their dorms. In such a case, the Department of Public Safety would receive an alert to the problem in a particular room. In the event of a fire, if the system was not reset, the alarm would spread to the entire building.
Boudah warns that tampering with the alarm system could potentially cause it to fail in the event of an actual emergency. With reccurring false alarms, there is the potential for complacency as students and staff may fail to respond to an alarm if they assume it to be false.
She also described the problems that false alarms cause for Facilities Management.George McPhail, staff engineer for facilities management remarked, "We charge an hour labor and a fine for false fire alarms. If there is additional damage to equipment, we will include those costs in the charges. We also lose some productivity on whatever assignment the technicians were working on when they respond to the alarm. This covers our expenses, but with each false alarm, our frustrations grows."