Early morning prank frustrates willow residents but reveals faulty fire alarms

Early Saturday morning Willow residents were awakened by a fire alarm set off by a fire extinguisher although some of the fire alarms in the rooms were broken and did not go off, according to a Willow RA. 

“It happened so fast,” said Holroyd.  She explained that she was on the third floor, where the extinguisher was opene

d, shortly before the alarm went off and there was no one in the hallway. 

 Some Willow residents who were near the staircase where the fire extinguisher was opened were crying due to the thick, white smoke released from the extinguisher. 

Also, Holroyd and another RA, Vinny Oliver, had to run back into the building and knock on people’s doors because the fire alarm in the some of the rooms was not going off.  

Holroyd also referenced the Seton Hall University dorm fire that occurred over a decade ago that she learned about recently during an RA in- service.  She explained that she kept thinking about the people who were stuck in the building during this devastating fire at Seton Hall while she went back inside Willow to alert her residents of the alarm. 

“I knew that I needed to go check on these kids,” said Holroyd.  She explained that she and Oliver are the type of people who would go back into the building if something was wrong. 

Sara Holroyd, Willow RA, said she getting ready to take a shower when the fire alarm went off.  She explained that there is a click about three seconds before the alarm goes off and once she heard the click she ran to get dressed. 

It was about 3:00 a.m.

Everyone was exiting the building as Holroyd and the other RAs directed residents to go far away from the building and wait for public safety.  Public safety is automatically notified whenever a fire alarm is triggered on campus. 

Just one public safety official arrived, although there is usually more than one, and searched the building to find out which alarm was triggered first.  After about ten minutes of searching he came outside with a used fire extinguisher. Usually public safety just “releases the alarm,” once they check the building, but since this was a prank they needed to decide what to do. 

This is the second time this semester that a resident has pulled the pin on one of the fire extinguishers when there was no fire.  When the pin is pulled thick smoke is released in the air, making it difficult to breathe. 

The RAs told the residents since this was clearly a prank everyone had to stand outside until someone came forward and admitted to pulling the pin on the extinguisher. 

“It felt like [we were outside for] so long because not everyone was cooperative, but I understand where they were coming from with their frustration,” explained Holroyd. 

 “It was freezing,” said Holroyd.  Many residents were outside in tank tops and shorts because the temperature varies in Willow.  

Eventually the resident who the pulled the pin on the fire extinguisher, “made it known it was him,” according to Holroyd and everyone was allowed back into the building. 

Holroyd said she put work orders in for the rooms that had broken fire alarms in the morning. 

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