< Back | Home

Brian Scherman demonstrates how to set off a fire alarm for his friends, Drew Comeru, Porus Mir and Nick Peterson in this photo illustrated by Conrad Clevlen

Oh, it's just another false (fire) alarm

By: Conrad Clevlen

Posted: 3/27/08

False fire alarms at NDNU have become part of campus life.

Four years ago the San Carlos/Belmont Fire Department responded to a false fire alarm at NDNU. Minutes later there was a 911 call regarding a man in San Carlos who had just experienced a heart attack.

By responding first to the falsely pulled fire alarm at NDNU, the emergency units were unable to make it to the man in San Carlos in time to save his life.

Authorities had a suspect, but could not find any evidence against the person.

In the 2006-2007 academic year, Public Safety Chief David Mefford stated there were about 35-45 false fire alarms. So far, in the academic year of 2007-2008, Mefford estimates that we have only had around 10-15 false alarms.

The number of false alarms this year have been cut down by roughly 66 percent compared to last year, but are still relatively high.

Mefford maintains a big reason why there were so many false fire alarms in 2006-2007 was because of steam oozing out of the bathrooms while students were showering.

The over-sensitivity in the fire system has been looked at and the ventilation system has been improved now, said Mefford.

But steam is not the only cause of NDNU's high volume of false alarms.

Earlier this year two students, smoking in their room, set off the fire alarm. "They certainly weren't smoking their Marlboros either," Mefford said.

Another false alarm was set off by fog from a fog machine.

Madisson Marin explained, "The firemen came in, saw the fog machine by the door and confiscated it. They also saw that I had tied off the smoke detector with a towel. A fireman came out and told me I was going to get fined $10,000 and left."

Marin, days later, was very relieved to find out that the South County Fire District was not going to implement a $10,000 fine on him, but he was disappointed not to get his fog machine back.

"It sucks that they took my fog machine, now they have it and probably use it for their office parties" said Marin. "They were mainly angry at the fact that I covered up my smoke detector."

Mefford said, "Covering up a smoke detector is a serious offence. You could get fined and the university will take action."

Dan Friedman of the Belmont Police Department explained, "If you've tampered with a fire alarm and something happens to anyone, you are held responsible. That's what many students don't realize.

"When someone covers up their smoke detectors or falsely sets off a fire alarm and something happens; they are held completely accountable even if it's the smallest thing."

Friedman elaborated, "For example, if there is a false fire alarm and someone trips while rushing to leave a building and gets hurt in any way, shape or form, that person has the right to file a civil suit against the person who was responsible for the false alarm."

But with all the false alarms at NDNU, students no longer rush out of their dorms or even leave their rooms for that matter.

"When I hear the fire alarms go off I usually just stay in my room and I've also been known to sleep through them," said sophomore, Brian Scherman.

Friedman calls it "the boy who cried wolf" situation.

"These days you have kids that are just numb to the sound of fire alarms. They hear fire alarms so often their brains become used to them."

Friedman continues, "On average it takes a child around 20 minutes to wake up and get to a safe place with a traditional fire alarm because they are so used to the sound."