March 29, 2024

Fire alarm gets no reaction

Students and community members eating dinner in the cafeteria were caught off guard when a fire alarm sounded during the 8th Annual Cosmetology Spring Fest at 6 p.m. on Jan. 28, in the Jenifer Leavitt Student Center.
When the fire alarm first began going off, there was a delayed reaction on following usual fire alarm procedure.
Sophomore Sterling Anderson who had been eating dinner in the cafeteria commented, “It was pretty comical. No one really had a reaction to it. People just seemed annoyed and went back to eating.”

This archived article was written by: Kristen Zarucchi-Mize

Students and community members eating dinner in the cafeteria were caught off guard when a fire alarm sounded during the 8th Annual Cosmetology Spring Fest at 6 p.m. on Jan. 28, in the Jenifer Leavitt Student Center.
When the fire alarm first began going off, there was a delayed reaction on following usual fire alarm procedure.
Sophomore Sterling Anderson who had been eating dinner in the cafeteria commented, “It was pretty comical. No one really had a reaction to it. People just seemed annoyed and went back to eating.”
Spring Fest activities continued, however the cafeteria had to close for the duration of the alarm. The alarm rang continuously for about half an hour.
Within minutes of the alarm going off, Residential Advisor Janet Lowe informed students in the cafeteria not to be worried. A fog machine used during the fashion show of the Spring Fest activities set off the alarm.
“There are lasers that detect rising smoke in the student center. When the fog started rising to the ceiling, it set the sensors off. On the bright side, it brought in a lot of people to come and check out the show because they were trying to figure out what was causing all the commotion,” Lowe said.
She noted that she had contacted the Price Fire Marshal before the use of the fog machine and he had informed her that it would be alright to proceed with using the machine for the show.
After the alarm was reset, Becky Archibald, director of dinning services, stated that she was happy about the alarm going off.
“It gave our dinner crew a lot of practice. They hadn’t been put in this type of situation before yet they handled it well.”
Student Melissa Hebel thought the alarm made dinner at the cafeteria quite interesting that night.
“You should have seen the student center from Burtenshaw. It looked like a rave was going on,” Hebel stated.