Fifth fire alarm in less than a fortnight on campus

Fire alarms sounded in the library just after 12:30 on campus today, after a smoke detector went off in the building.

Another fire on UEA campus today

Students were evacuated from the library after a fire alarm went off on campus just after lunch. Leaving via the lower exit, one was overheard commenting that it was “the slowest evacuation ever” as they walked down the stairs.

A slow walk down

“I’d just sat down and got my books out and the alarm went off,” said one masters student, who had also been in the library when the Chemistry building fire alarms went off last month.

He even joked that he wasn’t sure if it was a real emergency, given that the alarms have been going off so frequently lately.

But many don’t find the situation funny whatsoever, especially with deadlines looming.

May Jones, a second year IR and Politics student said that “It’ll be really difficult for anyone who has deadlines soon, this might mean that they can’t get their work done.

For some students, the Library evacuation was not their first of the day, as Chancellors Drive Annex was also evacuated at about 10:40 this morning.

And many took to Twitter to vent.

https://twitter.com/benlongwords/status/529253134955450368

https://twitter.com/AmyFancourt/status/529251687492771841

Some have speculated that the alarm was caused by cleaning fluids getting into the alarms system, and staff certainly didn’t appear to be expecting a drill. No one has yet given an exact account of why the alarms were set off.

When initially questioned, library personnel said that staff and students just had to “wait for the fire warden” to determine whether or not the building could be re-entered. But when asked about the incident, fire wardens merely said that we “just had to assume that it was for real because we’ve had other fires lately.”

The timing of the alarm was particularly poor for students that have coursework deadlines due this week.

Students waited outside the library to be let back in

Students were told that they would be able to re-enter the building shortly after 1pm.

A university spokesman said:

“Fire evacuation drills are performed annually in the first two months of the new academic year for all campus buildings, to test the occupants’ response and familiarity with the alarms and the evacuation routes.

“The fire alarm and evacuation last week in the library was a scheduled fire drill. Today’s alarm was caused by a water leak affecting the fire detection system.

We take the safety of our staff and students very seriously and fire drills and alarm tests are an essential part of ensuring we are operating a safe campus.”