False fire alarms cause inconvenience, but no fines

When a high-pitched whine pierces the normal hum of campus, most students take little notice as a few unlucky residents wander out to the quad, resigned to several minutes of another fire alarm. But false alarms on campus and at the eating clubs have been a recurring issue for Public Safety and the Princeton Fire Department.

The University is not fined when there is a false alarm on campus, said Robert Gregory, the fire marshal for Public Safety.

"When an alarm goes off, Public Safety officers respond," he said. "If someone calls in to say they see smoke, the fire department is called immediately."

At one point, the Princeton Fire Department responded to all alarms on campus. But that system was inefficent, Gregory said. "They needed to cut down on their runs and we have experienced people, so why not handle it [ourselves]?"

The cause of a false alarm is usually a malfunction due to faulty systems or damp weather, or a false activation resulting from something like burnt toast, Gregory said.

Cooking now ranks as the most common cause of false alarms, and the major culprits are popcorn, toast and things melted in the microwave, he said, citing a recent example that occured on Monday, when the residents of Dodge-Osborne Hall were subjected to two false alarms in one night.

"One they couldn't determine," he said, "and the second was burnt toast in the common kitchen."

Alarms can be set off deliberately, but Gregory pointed out that most false alarms come from smoke detectors rather than pull boxes, which suggests that pranks are fairly rare on campus.

Even alarms that go off late at night are typically the result of someone cooking, he said, although a few students have been charged with a public false alarm, a third-degree misdemeanor, in the past.

In general, the proliferation of false alarms on campus is unpredictable. Dodge-Osborne had not experienced a fire alarm for a month before its doubleheader on Monday, Gregory said.

"My sense is that the upperclass dorms, such as Pyne Hall, can be more of a problem," he said. "They can have more popcorn."

The same division of Grounds and Building Maintenance that services security and door access systems also runs an alarm shop, noted Gregory. The group visits most buildings once a year to check alarms system; theaters and athletic buildings are serviced four times annually in accordance with more stringent safety regulations.

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In contrast to false alarms on campus, those at the eating clubs receive the immediate attention of the Princeton Fire Department.

A club does not have to pay a fine for a false alarm unless the cause is malicious, said William S. Drake, an official with the Princeton Fire Department.

In these cases, he said, an individual has usually been spraying a fire extinguisher or has activated a pull box. Accidental activations come from concentrated cigarette smoke, smoke machines from musical performances, contractors working on the buildings or malfunctions, particularly in the older clubs.

"At the present time, neither the club nor an individual is required to pay," Drake said, although he noted that the Borough Council was in the process of drafting an ordinance which would require a fine for false alarms. The Council will address the issue in late May, he said.

The clubs have worked with the Borough's Bureau of Fire Safety and Housing Inspection to cut down on the number of false alarms on the Street, Drake said.

"All of the eating clubs have a history of alarm system activations. [They] have been a serious and recurring problem at the eating clubs, and have been shown to be a big strain on the volunteer fire department," he said. "There is much more work to be done and further reductions are achievable."

The presidents of several eating clubs could not be reached for comment.