Kays Hall reaches 26th fire alarm and counting
Fines to students possible, rewards offered for info on culprits
Caitlyn Neace
Issue date: 10/29/07 Section: News
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At Kays Hall, this is a frequent occurrence. As of Friday, Kays had experienced a total of 24 fire alarms, as reported by the Jonesboro Fire Department. However, the fire alarms Saturday night and Sunday morning make the grand total 26.
"I'm so sick of it, people need to grow up," Ashley Fair, a freshman from Little Rock, said.
Fire alarms go off for three main reasons. The first, the fire drill, which is a planned drill that both the residence staff and the fire department were previously notified of, tests how long it takes the residents to evacuate the building and the emergency staff to respond.
Second, there are instances where residents cook food items, usually popcorn, for longer than the allotted time required and it catches on fire.
The final reason, which is the most prevalent and the most dangerous, are fire alarms that are pulled maliciously. Patrick Dixon, the director of Residence Life, has expressed his concern with these malicious false alarms.
"I want to make sure the students know we're taking these pranks seriously," Dixon said. "Not only will we punish them through the university, but we will charge them with a criminal offense."
The residence staff at Kays Hall are worried that this situation will turn into a dangerous one during a real fire. They are afraid that over time residents will ignore the fire alarms, automatically dismissing it as a fake, a concept based off of Aesop's story, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
Residents themselves have expressed this concern, as well as the concern that these fake emergencies could be driving emergency responders away from situations that are classified as real emergencies.
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