Since the start of the semester, smoke alarm systems in certain dorm buildings have been going off without proper cause. This has been seen notably with the on-campus Pondside 2 apartments, which have battery-operated smoke detectors that need to be replaced every ten years.
Colin Burdick, associate director of facilities, spoke on the issues with the smoke detector systems. Burdick said that he believes the Pondside 2 alarms installed over the summer were a “bad batch.” While there hasn’t been a definitive cause identified, Burdick proposed a few theories.
“We did have a problem last year, where the Keene Fire Department was called, where smoking in the room caused the issues,” he said. “Was there activity that could’ve triggered it? There might be dust in the smoke detectors. Or smoking in the room.”
Burdick said that there are a couple of buildings coming up on their smoke alarm due dates, but those will be replaced when the time comes.
Carle Hall, which had its alarms changed over the past spring semester, has been experiencing similar issues, although Burdick said these haven’t been as frequent as the ones in Pondside 2.
“If you’re spraying perfume, or if you have humidifiers, keep them away from the smoke detectors. It doesn’t take much to set them off. If you are spraying anything, keep it away from the detector,” he said.
Burdick also clarified that older dorm buildings are not more prone to be affected by these issues.
“It depends on the system,” Burdick said. “These particular buildings [P2] have battery alarms.”
The Pondside 2 apartments utilize battery-operated smoke alarms, but most of the buildings have “system smokes,” which, according to Burdick, “are hard-wired into the fire alarm panel and have more data.” These alarms will report if they need to be changed instead of going off.
If students are experiencing issues with the smoke alarms, they can call campus safety at 603-358-2228 or submit a request with maintenance. If a smoke detector is defective, maintenance will replace the alarm with a working one.
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
cerno@kscequinox.com
