By Jessica Lewis, News Editor
Graduate Students are irritated with the numerous fire alarms they've experienced in the Graduate Residence Hall. The same complaint was prevalent two years ago when the building was first opened.
"The Graduate Residence Hall has a lot of problems, specifically with the fire alarm system, it is very sensitive and has led to, over the past two years, 3-4 alarms a week," said resident William Reinken. Associate Dean of Students, Lynda O'Malley said that there has been a total of 18 fire alarms sine August 9.
Eric Finklestein, Director of Residential Programs and Housing Operations, said, "we initially, at the beginning of the year, had an issue with steam setting off the alarms."
"The other fire alarms have been individual alarms that have ranged from hair products or cooking issues," Finklestein said.
Graduate resident, Kriz Ortiz, said that he hasn't been around for most of them, but is aware of about 10 to 15 this semester. "It seems to be a lot more than it really should be, it's annoying because it's really loud obviously and you have to be outside for like 20 minutes," Ortiz said.
"Over 50 percent of them were due to cooking situations or a real condition, like someone left a curling iron on a surface, causing a smoke condition," O'Malley said.
Reinken explained that the system is very sensitive. Steamy showers and hairsprays have set off the fire alarm, he said. "I think the more troubling ones we had, about six or seven, that really were a nuisance were due to steam in the showers," O'Malley said.
Recently, the Plant Department took a couple of different approaches, hoping to lower the sensitivity of the alarm system. "Since they have taken those steps, we have had one fire alarm which happened over the weekend, which was a real condition, someone had burnt food," O'Malley said.
Since the Plant Department has taken steps to improve the situation, Reinken thinks that the fire alarm situation "has actually gotten a lot better."
O'Malley explained that residents are starting to recognize the sensitivity of the fire alarms, and the Plant Department was able to work with the sensitivity of the alarms.
"Apparently they actually fixed the issue, it was a ventilation issue so they went into the system and fixed it in certain rooms, so it hasn't been happening as often lately," Ortiz said.
(Sean M. Gates/The Chronicle)