Late-night fire alarm evacuations have become a recurring nuisance for Latin Way residents, who have already been forced out of their apartments six times since Sept. 1. The alarms are a result of problems with a faulty fire system that was installed as part of mass renovations to the complex over the summer.
According to Tufts Fire Marshall Perry Cayton, police records show that alarms have been triggered by steam from showers as well as smoke from cooking. The problem lies within the smoke alarms and detectors installed in towers A, B, and C of Latin Way. After investigating, Cayton and his staff concluded that students have done nothing wrong in triggering the alarms.
"We know when a pull station is intentionally pulled and there is nothing malicious to report this year [from Latin Way]," he said.
Residents of Latin Way have mixed views about this year's slew of evacuations. Some students find the alarms to be a major frustration, while others have started to accept the blaring sound as a part of life.
"The biggest [inconvenience] is lack of sleep. We had one alarm go off at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday," explained junior Trent Ruder. Junior Matt Schumann was less bothered by the late-night interludes.
"It hasn't been anything significant, just a minor bother at late hours," he said.
Senior Vernon Neath complained that students have to stand outside for nearly a half hour, since the fire department has had trouble determining which towers are triggering the alarm.
With the frequency and inconvenience of the alarms, students are starting to take evacuations less seriously. "Everyone takes ten minutes to get downstairs because they think it's not a real fire," he said.
Junior Kim Starbuck said she knows several students who stayed inside during the recent evacuations and is concerned that in the event of a real fire students will not exit the building.
"I just think it's really pretty annoying because you're sleeping in your bed and the fire alarm goes off," she said. "Nobody wants to get out of bed on Sunday morning at 5 a.m. My roommate, one time, didn't go outside, and if the fire alarm goes off again, I don't know if I would go out. It's really dangerous because others, as well, aren't taking it seriously."
Other campus residents have taken notice of the Latin Way evacuations on campus this year, especially from neighboring dorms. "I only had to evacuate once myself, which wasn't too bad, but I constantly hear the alarm across the street from Latin Way," said Rick Liu, a resident in Haskell Hall. Freshman Lauren Lerner, a resident of South Hall has had to evacuate twice. "The fire alarms have usually caught me while I've been in the middle of homework or a phone call," she said. While she accredited the evacuations as an inconvenience, she understood that they are necessary to ensure the safety of the students.
Latin Way has yet to have a planned fire drill, though every dorm must hold such a rehearsal. Assistant Fire Marshall Bill McLaughlin explained, "every residential housing unit must participate in a fire drill from the biggest to the smallest." He added that while students may find this inconvenient, Massachusetts law requires that secondary schools conduct five drills every year.
In 1980, the fire codes that were implemented in Somerville called for more smoke detectors in kitchens. But Cayton has found that these new smoke detectors are causing the problem and has plans to find a more sensible replacement.
"All alarms must meet a certain code as far as proximity. I want to petition the local fire department to put heat detectors, not smoke detectors in the kitchen," he noted.
This past week was National Fire Prevention Week, administered through the National Fire Protection Agency to raise fire safety awareness. Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy was named the honorary chair for the weeklong event.
