The majority freshman resident hall, Muse, got hit with many fire alarms during early mornings to late hours at night, consisting of 27 plus fire alarms. Students are becoming restless and so are staff.
These are what some students had to say:
“I honestly don’t mind the daytime ones because I am usually out but the ones in the middle of [the] night are brutal especially when it is cold out,” Grace Ferrara, a special education freshman said.
“I believe that the fire drills are ridiculous and uncalled for. They are a disruption to all the students not only in muse but all over campus, (you can hear the fire alarm from the other side of campus). So even at night, other students may be waking up if they are light sleepers. Not only is it a disruption at night due to sleep, but also students who are studying and trying to complete their work. That even goes for the ones during the day,” Brooke Harmon, an allied health sciences transfer sophomore said. “I would also like to add that it is causing students not to leave therefore when there is an actual fire no one will know.”
“I have an eight a.m. class, and the night before one class we had two alarms within 15 minutes of each other between two and three a.m. This affects my sleep patterns and how I feel the next morning. It is hard with such an early class, and I am sick of it! The last alarm we had was over an hour at two a.m. in the cold, and I almost passed out for whatever reason during the alarm. Probably because I did not have any sleep from the alarms every fricken morning,” Ryleigh Donkle, criminal justice, and psych Freshman said.
“Honestly, they are horrible. Especially having them happen in the middle of the night makes it difficult to get a good night’s sleep, and wake up for an eight a.m.,” Dalton Moyer, criminal justice Freshman said.
Furthermore, in an email sent out by Radford University’s announcement email tilted “False fire alarm incidents in residence halls,” they state the hazard and costs of these alarms.
The university suspects that it’s an unknown individual or group of individuals triggering these alarms and that it poses a significant threat to the university and community the surrounds Radford.
The emails go on to state four vital points when thinking about pulling these alarms. It puts at risk first responders driving to the scene at high speed and potentially delays their response to legitimate emergencies on campus and in the city. It is a Class 1 Misdemeanor in Virginia. Each action can result in imprisonment for up to one year and fines up to $2,500. Students may be referred to the Radford University Student Conduct process, which may affect their status as a student.
Residence hall students found responsible for this behavior risk eviction and forfeiture of their housing fees in addition to additional university sanctions.
Lastly, as a reminder from Radford, “Students who know individuals are pulling fire alarms or assisting those pulling alarms are encouraged to contact RUPD at 540-831-5500.”
*This article originally published on The Tartan*
My original piece before going to the Tartan (I didn’t make this one pretty):
Freshman Hall, Muse, got hit with many fire alarms during early mornings to late hours at night, consisting of 27 plus fire alarms. Students are becoming restless and so are staff.
These are what some students had to say:
“I honestly don’t mind the daytime ones because I am usually out but the ones in the middle of [the] night are brutal especially when it is cold out,” Grace Ferrara, a special education freshman said.
“I believe that the fire drills are ridiculous and uncalled for. They are a disruption to all the students not only in muse but all over campus, (you can hear the fire alarm from the other side of campus). So even at night, other students may be waking up if they are light sleepers. Not only is it a disruption at night due to sleep, but also students who are studying and trying to complete their work. That even goes for the ones during the day,” Brooke Harmon, an allied health sciences transfer sophomore said. “I would also like to add that it is causing students not to leave therefore when there is an actual fire no one will know.”
“I have an 8 am class, and the night before one class we had two alarms within 15 minutes of each other between 2-3 am. This affects my sleep patterns and how I feel the next morning. It is really hard with such an early class, and I am absolutely sick of it! The last alarm we had was over an hour at 2 am in the cold, and I almost passed out for whatever reason during the alarm. Probably because I did not have any sleep from the alarms every fricken morning,” Ryleigh Donkle, a criminal justice and psych Freshman said.
“Honestly, they are horrible. Especially having them happen in the middle of the night really makes it difficult to get a good night’s sleep, and wake up for an 8 am,” Dalton Moyer, criminal justice Freshman said.
Furthermore, in an email sent out by Radford University’s announcement email tilted “False fire alarm incidents in residence halls,” they state the hazard and costs of these alarms.
The university suspects that it’s an unknown individual or group of individuals triggering these alarms and that it poses a significant threat to the university and community the surrounds Radford. The emails go on to state four vital points when thinking about pulling these alarms:
- Additionally, it puts at risk first responders driving to the scene at high speed and potentially delays their response to legitimate emergencies on campus and in the city.
- It is a Class 1 Misdemeanor in Virginia. Each action can result in imprisonment for up to one year and fines up to $2,500.
- Students may be referred through the Radford University Student Conduct process, which may affect their status as a student.
- Residence hall students found responsible for this behavior risk eviction and forfeiture of their housing fees in addition to additional university sanctions.
Lastly, as a reminder from Radford, “Students who have knowledge of individuals pulling fire alarms or assisting those pulling alarms are encouraged to contact RUPD at 540-831-5500.”
Dylan Lepore 