By Michelle Westgate
Fire alarms rang and lights flashed as students in the new Graduate Residence Hall evacuated the building Sunday night.
But there was no sense of urgency. Instead, students were disinterested, frustrated and angry; their night once again disrupted by a fire alarm.
“I think this is the 35th one and we’ve been here since August, and this is a new building,” Melissa Gobia said.
Gobia, a first year law student, said most students comply with the rule to evacuate the building even though this has been happening since they moved in.
Others have become irritated by the near-daily alarms and opt to stay in their rooms rather than evacuate the building.
Joe Barkwill, vice president for Facility and Operations, said school officials held a meeting last week with graduate residents to explain the problem, and to assure students that they are working on a solution.
“There have been about 20 alarms in the past two months,” Barkwill said. “Students are beginning to get complacent and this is a very serious issue.”
Barkwill explained that fire codes say dorm rooms must be equipped with magnetic lock doors allowing students to keep the door open for socializing. If a fire alarm is triggered, the doors slam shut to protect the residents inside.
Fire codes also say that with this type of door, it is necessary to have smoke detectors within five feet of the door.
Kitchenettes in the graduate hall are also within five feet of the door, and the fire alarms are near the stove.
“Alarms always happen around any time someone might be cooking,” said Frank Ditta, a first year law student. “It seems they go off for everything except a real fire.”
Barkwill said there are two types of alarms: smoke detectors and heat detectors, and both are in the rooms. Smoke detectors are the problem, because they can be triggered by activities such as cooking.
School officials are working in conjunction with the Nassau County Fire Marshal and the Uniondale Fire Department to gain special permission to remove the magnetic locks in the grad dorms, Barkwill said.
“Once we get that permission, then we can replace the smoke detectors with heat detectors,” Barkwill said. “We’re trying to move quickly and the Nassau County Fire Marshal wants to move fast too,” he said.
Lynda O’Malley, associate dean of students, wants students to understand the University is working on a solution.
“Student safety is our number one priority,” O’Malley said. She expressed concern that students might not evacuate the building because of complacency due to the number of alarms.
O’Malley attended the meeting held with students last week to discuss the alarms. She said students received tips on how to avoid triggering a smoke alarm.
Students were told to never leave the stove unattended when cooking, to use medium heat so food cooks slower and to open the window near the kitchenette. These suggestions could keep smoke-related incidents to a minimum until other solutions are possible, O’Malley said.
“It is important to understand that these are not false alarms,” O’Malley said. “These are real alarms.”
The alarms are being activated by real smoke-related incidents, O’Malley added.
In January 2000, students at Seton Hall University in New Jersey experienced firsthand the devastating effects of ignoring a fire alarm. Fifty-eight students were injured by the fire, and three students died. Students there experienced at least 18 fire alarms prior to the fire during the 1999 academic year.
“This is like number 42,” said Deana Vitoroulis, a first year law student. “To the best of my knowledge, they are trying to remedy it, but it is ridiculous every other night coming out here.”
Some students acknowledge that they are becoming indifferent to the need to evacuate. But most students continue to heed the warning.
“It’s better safe than sorry,” Vitoroulis said.

The graduate residence hall, pictured above, had been experiencing multiple fire alarms because smoke detectors are placed too close to kitchenettes. (Jacqueline Hlavenka)