Malfunctioning fire alarms disrupt students

Students in Willow A Residence have recently dealt with six unplanned fire alarms due to a mechanical failure within the steam valve in an equipment room behind PJ’s Coffee. The steam that leaked out set off the fire alarm that is placed directly above the steam valve.

Between last Saturdayand Sunday, Jan. 28, the malfunctioning steam valve set off the fire alarm four times. The two alarms on Saturday activated at 1:41 a.m. and 8:22 a.m. The alarms activated at 7:59 a.m. and 8:17 a.m. Sunday according to TUPD records. Since the beginning of the spring semester, there have also been two fire drills and one fire alarm set off for an unknown reason.

“In this case, the fire alarm performed as designed by detecting an abnormal condition,” said Karen Douglas, assistant director of the office of environmental health safety.

Though Facilities Services deals with mechanical failures, OEHS makes recommendations to Facilities Services based on inspections, code requirements, and complaints.

Every residence hall at Tulane is required by law to have two fire drills per semester, one in the morning and one at night, Douglas said. Fire drills are coordinated with the TUPD, Facilities Services, and other Tulane departments.

Though a residence hall can cancel fire drills as long as there are two prior documented evacuations, the two Willow A fire drills occurred after a Jan. 22 fire alarm activation and a Feb. 10 fire alarm activation.

Willow Area Director Danielle Klein was present for all the fire alarm activations and expressed concern for how the false alarms affect the Willow residents.

“These alarms disrupted student life on Sunday morning by waking some students earlier than they would have chosen,” said Klein. “While the alarms were disruptive, fortunately they occurred on a weekend and did not disrupt residents’ school days.”

While TUPD does not schedule drills or deal with maintenance of fire alarms, they keep records on all fire alarm activations.

According to TUPD Chief Danny Lawless, there have been only 14 campus-wide fire alarms in the past four weeks, compared to 25 in the preceding four weeks.

“We track all of it to keep ourselves of what’s going on and to see if there are problems.” Lawless said.

At least one TUPD officer is always present at all fire drills in order to facilitate the evacuation process.

“Tulane wants to make sure there is an authority presence at those fire drills to make the kids come on out,” Lawless said.

Sophomore Eric Barber, who lives in Willow A and was in Willow for all four fire alarms last weekend, left Willow after the fourth fire alarm to avoid any more potential alarms.

“You get right back into your room and they go off again. The timing was very inconvenient,” Barber said.
Tulane repaired the steam valve after the second fire alarm activation Sunday.