A microwavable mac and cheese cup without water caused smoke to enter the halls of the second floor of Pondside 1 (P1) and the fire alarms did not sound off on early morning Saturday, Feb. 10.
Casey Justice, director of transitions and community living said they think it is because not enough smoke was present to cause the alarm to go off, combined with the high ceilings of the building.
The fire alarms were tested soon after on Monday, Feb. 12 and confirmed to be working, according to Katherine Bain, assistant director of community living.
“The buildings are tested annually, so every summer, every single smoke detector gets tested,” Bain said. “So that if for whatever reason something needs to get fixed or replaced, if it’s able to get replaced, replaced.
Before testing could occur by the facilities team, battery-operated smoke detectors were put in place to ensure working alarms and have since been taken out.
Collin Burdick, assistant director of facilities services similarly said there probably was not enough smoke to trigger an alarm.
After testing the alarms in the summer, and more recently the affected one on Monday, everything checked out.
“If we test it and it didn’t set an alarm we replace them,” Burdick said.
He noted the alarms seem to be original to the building and because they are an older model that could also be a factor. Also, he said someone could have opened windows to air smoke out as well.
“It’s hard to really say [why],” he said.
When testing a fire alarm, the facilities teams uses a smoke canister to set off the alarms, Burdick said.
Additionally, The fire alarms are tied to a campus-wide system where if one is 80% dirty and not working properly it sends a notification. Burdick said they have received no notifications that one was out of order.
The Keene Fire Department is aware of the situation, Burdick said he is just waiting to hear back for further recommendations.
An email was sent out to residents explaining the situation from Community Director Marco Pazmiño in the afternoon of the day the incident occurred.
“We would ask that you would call Campus Safety if you see smoke in the hall,” the email states. “We will also have CAs sitting on duty in P1 to help with monitoring and keeping the space safe and secure.”
Following that email, another was sent on Tuesday, Feb. 13 confirming the fire alarms in P1 work.
Marco Pazmiño could not be reached for comment by time of publication
Campus safety referred The Equinox to Burdick
This article has since been updated with information from Burdick
Tim Bruns can be contacted at
tbruns@kscequinox.com
