By Jude Souazoube
Elm Staff Writer
What was expected by students to be a restful advising day turned out to be the beginning of an unforeseen series of alarm malfunctions for students living in Chester Hall.
On Wednesday, April 5, the smoke detectors went off in select suites on the first floor with no sight of a fire or smoke.
Junior Lily Hartmann waited outside for about five minutes with her suitemates for the detectors to stop ringing, and that night was not the only night the detectors went off.
“It went off again at 7:30 a.m. the next day,” Hartmann said.
Students are still experiencing problems with their smoke detectors. The time of day the detectors ring varies, and so does the length of time the alarms go off for. Resident Assistant senior Regina Del Pilar shared that the detectors went off at 3 a.m. three times.
The detectors going off sporadically affected some students’ routines.
“I’m a very light sleeper so it wakes me up all the time. I’ve found myself having to study outside…[just] somewhere else. Sometimes we don’t know if it’s an actual fire or [if it’s] just going off,” sophomore Selena Francese said.
Frustrated students reached out to Del Pilar to inquire about the situation and when it would end. Del Pilar, however, did not know the answers to the questions she received.
“I felt like everyone was mad at me for not knowing exactly what was happening and how to fix it…I could handle general concerns and triaging the emotional damage but I’m still just a resident myself,” said Del Pilar.
Public Safety and Buildings and Grounds were informed of the issue.
The Chester residents had mixed reactions to the responses of Public Safety and Buildings and Grounds. Some students found the responses to be prompt and sufficient for the information they had at the time.
“They have been doing their best to help fix our individual situations, but there seems to be a larger situation issue with the detector system in the building that needs to be fixed,” Hartmann said.
Other students felt there could have been improvements in the way Public Safety and Buildings & Grounds responded to the frustrations of the students.
“Another time, I called Public Safety, who told me to call Buildings and Grounds’ weekend line, who didn’t answer and called me back…two hours later. He asked if the alarms were still going off and obviously, they were not. So, he said ‘okay’ and hung up,” Del Pilar said.
For Francese, however, these issues speak to a larger issue of a lack in transparency and communication to students from administration.
“We had continuous issues in Chester this year regarding ants, AC units not working, and now the fire alarms, and B&G haven’t really done anything. It’s honestly getting on my nerves,” Francese said.
According to Del Pilar, new smoke detectors for Chester were ordered and she hopes they will arrive before finals week. While the future of the situation remains uncertain, B&G are working to resolve it as soon as possible.
Photo Caption: Residents of Chester Hall experienced intermittent fire alarm malfunctions in recent weeks.
Elm Archive Photo