False Fire Alarms Send Witte Hall Students Scrambling, Again
Fire Alarm Malfunctions Account For Half Dozen Evacuations This Semester
Updated: 2:57 pm CST December 18, 2007
MADISON, Wis. -- University of Wisconsin-Madison's housing officials said that they've been dealing with a troublesome fire alarm problem at Witte Hall on campus.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportOfficials said that an inspection on Monday showed the system is finally back on track, but not before 15 false fire alarms were reported this semester.The semester-long problem has some students wondering why it took so long to get action and answers, WISC-TV reported.UW sophomore Jennifer Meyers and freshman Caissa Casarez were cramming for finals on Monday night. The last thing they needed was a fire alarm, which would have forced them to evacuate the 10-story building. But that's what they and 1,200 others at Witte Hall have been doing all semester long, at all times of the day and night."It started getting really frustrating, especially when the alarms were at 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock in the morning and we were woken up," said Meyers.Students in residence halls are required to evacuate the building during a fire alarm. If they don't, they can be ticketed by a housing or fire official and have to pay a fine, WISC-TV reported."I realized that the fire alarms are going to be going off, but I didn't think it was going to be this bad," said Casarez.The fire alarms became so frequent that Casarez started tracking them in her calendar.In December, she noted five in the past two weeks, the last one on Friday at 7 a.m.Some residents said that they've heard enough."They're a lot of kids now that have flat out said that they just don't believe that fire alarms are indicating any real danger anymore," said Meyers. "It's getting to the point where students don't want to leave the building."UW Housing, Buildings, and Grounds supervisor Mike Henry said the ongoing fire alarm system malfunction set off six of 15 false alarms at Witte Halls this semester."We actually had six malfunctions in the system from the beginning of the academic year," he saidOn Monday, Henry said the alarm maker, Simplex, checked the system and gave it the all clear.WISC-TV pointed out "trouble" warning lights on the system panels, but were told they were only indicators of overactive sensors inside smoke detectors, detectors going off too much, rather than too little."The issue is never one of the (fire alarm) system not responding to something," said Henry. "It may have responded to a false alarm, but at least it responded so we know that the system will respond to an issue."Housing officials said they plan to replace some smoke detector sensors to be on the safe side.Friday's alarms were activated when steam from a cleaning crew set off a fire alarm.UW officials said a mass e-mail will be sent to students soon explaining the situation.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportOfficials said that an inspection on Monday showed the system is finally back on track, but not before 15 false fire alarms were reported this semester.The semester-long problem has some students wondering why it took so long to get action and answers, WISC-TV reported.UW sophomore Jennifer Meyers and freshman Caissa Casarez were cramming for finals on Monday night. The last thing they needed was a fire alarm, which would have forced them to evacuate the 10-story building. But that's what they and 1,200 others at Witte Hall have been doing all semester long, at all times of the day and night."It started getting really frustrating, especially when the alarms were at 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock in the morning and we were woken up," said Meyers.Students in residence halls are required to evacuate the building during a fire alarm. If they don't, they can be ticketed by a housing or fire official and have to pay a fine, WISC-TV reported."I realized that the fire alarms are going to be going off, but I didn't think it was going to be this bad," said Casarez.The fire alarms became so frequent that Casarez started tracking them in her calendar.In December, she noted five in the past two weeks, the last one on Friday at 7 a.m.Some residents said that they've heard enough."They're a lot of kids now that have flat out said that they just don't believe that fire alarms are indicating any real danger anymore," said Meyers. "It's getting to the point where students don't want to leave the building."UW Housing, Buildings, and Grounds supervisor Mike Henry said the ongoing fire alarm system malfunction set off six of 15 false alarms at Witte Halls this semester."We actually had six malfunctions in the system from the beginning of the academic year," he saidOn Monday, Henry said the alarm maker, Simplex, checked the system and gave it the all clear.WISC-TV pointed out "trouble" warning lights on the system panels, but were told they were only indicators of overactive sensors inside smoke detectors, detectors going off too much, rather than too little."The issue is never one of the (fire alarm) system not responding to something," said Henry. "It may have responded to a false alarm, but at least it responded so we know that the system will respond to an issue."Housing officials said they plan to replace some smoke detector sensors to be on the safe side.Friday's alarms were activated when steam from a cleaning crew set off a fire alarm.UW officials said a mass e-mail will be sent to students soon explaining the situation.Copyright 2007 by Channel 3000. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
