Fire alarm abuse at Uni; beyond a joke.

I had 2 hours of sleep last night, after the fire alarm in my hall of residence was set off 3 times.

The first one was at 3am and we were barely indoors for 20 minutes between the next two. We finally got back indoors at 6am, by which time I had decided there was no point going back to sleep (I have a lecture at 9 and would have woken up at 7 anyway).

Each time the alarm is set off, the fire brigade have to send 2 fully manned fire engines and search the building, costing the University about £1000 each time. The second time it happened last night, they searched all 250 rooms to make sure nobody was ignoring the alarm. A lot of people had stayed in bed, and now face eviction from the hall and possibly from the University.

I don't blame them at all for staying in bed. Fair enough, the first alarm could have been genuine. But when there are 2 more in less than 2 hours, it is plain to see that it's a hoax. I appreciate that we are obliged to evacuate the building for health and safety reasons, but I feel so angry that my sleep has to be disrupted just because a few immature, inconsiderate little twunts don't know how to behave properly. My friend very nearly missed her taxi to the airport for her flight home as a result of all of this.

Not sure what the point of posting this is, but I need to vent my anger somehow. Grrrrr :mad:

A similar thing happened in another hall the other week; http://www.portsmouthtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=680&ArticleID=1408582

Reply 1

yusufu

16

I remember a similar thing happening at my school during the summer exam season a few years ago. I can imagine how annoying it must've been for the people who had exams though.

Reply 2

BirchyGreen

I hate it when that happens. Its not so bad for you residents but when you are a warden like me you have to actually deal with the whole thing, which at 4am you really cant be arsed to.

Reply 3

Knogle

16

I feel for you. I hate it when people set off alarms playfully. Thankfully it doesn't happen all that often around here.

Reply 4

username30638

OP

13

BirchyGreen

I hate it when that happens. Its not so bad for you residents but when you are a warden like me you have to actually deal with the whole thing, which at 4am you really cant be arsed to.

Not so bad when you're a resident? Do me a favour...

Have you ever had to sit through a 3 hour Spanish lesson on 2 hours sleep? All wardens have to do is direct people to the assembly point and stand there trying to look important.

Reply 5

mousey

2

You're still having lectures? Don't you get a holiday? xx

Reply 6

WokSz

17

^ I was thinking just that :x

Reply 7

username30638

OP

13

mousey

You're still having lectures? Don't you get a holiday? xx

Today is my last day, I was really looking forward to it. Had planned to spend the day on the beach but now I'm so tired that I've scrapped that idea.

I can handle most things, but mess with my sleep and people get hurt. Well, they don't really... but they would if I wasn't such a wimp :redface:

Reply 8

Tarts_n_Vicars

13

jeff's_dead

I had 2 hours of sleep last night, after the fire alarm in my hall of residence was set off 3 times.

The first one was at 3am and we were barely indoors for 20 minutes between the next two. We finally got back indoors at 6am, by which time I had decided there was no point going back to sleep (I have a lecture at 9 and would have woken up at 7 anyway).

Each time the alarm is set off, the fire brigade have to send 2 fully manned fire engines and search the building, costing the University about £1000 each time. The second time it happened last night, they searched all 250 rooms to make sure nobody was ignoring the alarm. A lot of people had stayed in bed, and now face eviction from the hall and possibly from the University.

I don't blame them at all for staying in bed. Fair enough, the first alarm could have been genuine. But when there are 2 more in less than 2 hours, it is plain to see that it's a hoax. I appreciate that we are obliged to evacuate the building for health and safety reasons, but I feel so angry that my sleep has to be disrupted just because a few immature, inconsiderate little twunts don't know how to behave properly. My friend very nearly missed her taxi to the airport for her flight home as a result of all of this.

Not sure what the point of posting this is, but I need to vent my anger somehow. Grrrrr :mad:

A similar thing happened in another hall the other week; http://www.portsmouthtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=680&ArticleID=1408582

What's the alternative though - you all lay in bed the third time it goes off and are burnt alive because that time it was a real fire? I knowi t blows and I'm sure the uni are fully investigating simply because of the amount of money it's costing them (and the money they'll reap in fines if they find who's been setting it off :biggrin:

) You could raise your comments with the accommodation office but I'm sure they're more than aware of it already. Unfortunately there will always be immature people in halls who get their kicks at the expense of everyone else, whether it's with fire alarms, sprinklers, all night parties during exam time etc. :frown:

Reply 9

~ o ~

2

I know what you are feeling - at my halls the fire alarm is set off as "a dare" constantly. One week it went off 7 times between 2am - 4am.

Reply 10

hanadeka2002

Deary me I have all this to look forward to again.When I went to uni in September people would blare their music out at all hours then set the fire alarms off in the mornings at 9am,when I was trying to sleep.*****.

Reply 11

drawmeamonkey

1

awwwww think im lucky in my halls, we've only had 2 fire alarms this year, and they were just system faults!

and anyone with music on too loud usually gets a visit from security!

move into a house next year - no bother! unless you get antisocial neighbours :rolleyes:

Reply 12

Johnny

10

~ o

I know what you are feeling - at my halls the fire alarm is set off as "a dare" constantly. One week it went off 7 times between 2am - 4am.

ouch! Where's that?

Reply 13

Kittennffc

15

drawmeamonkey

move into a house next year - no bother! unless you get antisocial neighbours :rolleyes:

Ahh, you wait and see how annoying anti-social neighbours can be! We live next door to a bunch of complete arseholes! They are Spanish and don't seem to understand that people in England like sleep!

We had some of their mail the other week, so I went round to see if they had any of ours. I was knocking on the door for about 5 minutes because I knew someone was in, I saw the curtain twitch in the front window and no-one bothered to even answer the door, and had the cheek to come round to our house later "Did you knock on our door earlier?!" all angry!

They come home from a night out, and scream, shout and sing incredibly loud at about 2am, which lasts for about 2hours. As we live in a terraced house the noise sounds like its in our house. They also play proper dance music until about 4am most nights. In the end me and my housemate went round and told them to turn it down to which they said "What? Down?" like, no, I can't quite hear it next door, turn it up! *****!

You'll have to get used to fire alarms in halls im afraid, nothing you can do to stop them :rolleyes:

Reply 14

nikk

15

It's all part of the halls experience...you will come to look upon situations like those with fond memories a few years down the line (once you know you will never have to live in/near halls again hehe) :smile:

Reply 15

love_books

If it's a fire alarm then probably it might be a drill or a schedule check, where were the fire safety wardens, :confused:

Reply 16

Flicker

13

jeff's_dead

Not so bad when you're a resident? Do me a favour...

Have you ever had to sit through a 3 hour Spanish lesson on 2 hours sleep? All wardens have to do is direct people to the assembly point and stand there trying to look important.

I imagine they too have had to get on with the next day's lectures/work after a night disrupted by fire alarms too, yes. Most people have - you're not the only one.

We've been lucky, only had a few alarms this term and none in the night, though we had a couple at about 8am. Last term we had a few at about 3am. This term they introduced a £200 fine if you set it off for no real reason (ie including burning toast at 2am), and £50 if you're found in your room when you should have evacuated. But the alarms in our rooms are so loud i don't know how anyone COULD stay inside. They're deafening.

Reply 17

Arminius

14

Our fire alarms are intolerable to be near, i have tried to ignore them once but it was impossible.

Fortunately we've only had 3 or 4 4am'ers this year, which i can lvie with. Every week (or even every day) would be too tough.

Reply 18

dancingqueen

11

~ o

I know what you are feeling - at my halls the fire alarm is set off as "a dare" constantly. One week it went off 7 times between 2am - 4am.

Hmmm, and I thought people at university would be more mature...sadly a minority of people will never grow up and consider others before they do things.

Reply 19

username30638

OP

13

Tarts_n_Vicars

What's the alternative though - you all lay in bed the third time it goes off and are burnt alive because that time it was a real fire? I knowi t blows and I'm sure the uni are fully investigating simply because of the amount of money it's costing them (and the money they'll reap in fines if they find who's been setting it off :biggrin:

) You could raise your comments with the accommodation office but I'm sure they're more than aware of it already. Unfortunately there will always be immature people in halls who get their kicks at the expense of everyone else, whether it's with fire alarms, sprinklers, all night parties during exam time etc. :frown:

I understand completely why we have to evacuate, and I would never actually stay in my room... the alarm is deafening. But when it goes off 3 times in such quick succession, you know it's a hoax and it is understandable why so many people choose to stay in bed.

I don't have a problem with loud music or most of the other things that students get up to. I'm by no means perfect myself in that respect. But the whole fire alarm thing is something I feel very strongly against. 3 times in one night is just ridiculous, nobody should have to put up with that. One of the mature students in the hall was being visited by a heavily pregnant friend at the time and was in a real state when we were assembling outside. I can't imagine what it must have felt like for her being startled by the noise at that time of night and then having to stand in the cold for 3 hours.

I spoke to the hall staff about what they will do when the culprits are caught... they said that it's unlikely they will catch anyone unless their friends are brave enough to tell on them, which is not gonna happen. It annoys me that these guys, who are essentially criminals, get off without punishment, but the people who stayed in bed are facing expulsion from University.

And just to clarify - they were not planned drills. Each one was the result of someone smashing the glass on one of those button things.

Grrr grrr and thrice grrr :mad:

Fire alarm abuse at Uni; beyond a joke.

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