After receiving several rude awakenings during their first nights at Baker, residents of the living and learning center are finally sleeping through the night without false fire alarms.<br/>As of last Friday, the fire alarms had gone off 18 times since the first resident moved in, including three early that morning, Director of Physical Plant Gary Walbridge said.As of last Friday, the fire alarms had gone off 18 times since the first resident moved in, including three early that morning, Director of Physical Plant Gary Walbridge said.
As of last Friday, the fire alarms had gone off 18 times since the first resident moved in, including three early that morning, Director of Physical Plant Gary Walbridge said.
When the alarm went off for the third time that morning between 3 and 4 a.m., Walbridge and others were discussing disabling the fire alarm until it could be fixed, but that would require someone staying awake and watching the building until a new solution was found.<br/>Associate Dean of Students Teresa Clounch is called every time a fire alarm goes off in a residence hall, and she volunteered for the job.Associate Dean of Students Teresa Clounch is called every time a fire alarm goes off in a residence hall, and she volunteered for the job.
Associate Dean of Students Teresa Clounch is called every time a fire alarm goes off in a residence hall, and she volunteered for the job.
“I just decided we needed to try an option that would allow students to sleep through the night,” she said.
Clounch stationed herself at a computer with a boombox and bag of Cheetos and set her alarm for each hour. The requirement for a fire watch when the alarm is disabled is for the entire building to be patrolled once every hour, which she did.
Sophomore Erin Riggs, an LLC resident, said her patience was diminishing with the alarms, but it seemed to be improving.
“At the beginning (the alarms) seemed to be tolerated, and we thought this was no big deal,” Riggs said. “As it went off more and more we started getting pretty grumpy, but we cooperated and got through it together.”
Walbridge said students are noticing fewer alarms because the university secured special permission to change the way the alarms are set up, so that alarms only go off in the room in which the alarm was triggered, not the whole building.
If it is a fire that causes the alarm to go off, Walbridge said a sprinkler will automatically come on, so students shouldn’t be concerned by the changed alarm configuration.
On Tuesday morning the alarms were switched to battery power, Walbridge said, and as of Wednesday they hadn’t gone off again.
“We’re trying to see if it’s the power going into the building or the alarms, but we’ll get it fixed,” Walbridge said.