The fire alarm rings loud and constant, and it sounds like someone is jack-hammering into the entire building. Some students jump when they hear the piercing noise, while others shrug and check the time. It is 2 p.m. on a Tuesday at Foster-Walker Complex, which means it’s time for another fire drill.
Students must evacuate the building every Saturday and Tuesday at 2 p.m. for fire drills because of city-mandated fire alarm system improvement, said Theresa Delin, interim director of housing. Drills began Jan. 10 and will continue until further notice.
The alarm system at this residence in Foster-Walker is undergoing electrical rewiring, and fire drills are needed to test the work on it, Delin said.
At first, drills occurred every day to test the system, but the Housing Department negotiated with Evanston Fire & Life-Safety Services for drills twice a week instead, Delin said. Daily fire drills would have posed more of a challenge to students living there, and 2 p.m. is a convenient time because most students are in class or finished eating in the Foster-Walker dining halls, she said.
Evanston Fire & Life-Safety Services could not be reached for comment.
About 600 students live in the building, but only about 50 students exited the front entrance during Tuesday’s drill.
Some students said they do not always exit the building when an alarm sounds.
“If I hadn’t been somewhere where people had seen me, I wouldn’t have left my room,” McCormick sophomore Rebecca Hartley said.
The fire alarm is too “loud” and “obnoxious” to stay inside, McCormick freshman Daniel Thomas said. He said he always exits the building, especially because he heard there would be a $500 fine for those who do not evacuate.
Ryan Reinhart, assistant director of residential life, said he was not aware of any fine for failing to exit the building. It would be a policy violation, but there is no set sanction for remaining in the building, he said.
Students who do not evacuate violate policy 11d in the student handbook, which states that students must exit buildings when fire or other emergency alarms sound, Reinhart said.
Some students say the drills have caught them off guard. McCormick sophomore Shamyle Ghazali said he had to exit the building right before he was about to shower.
Other students prepare for the drills. Weinberg junior Mun Kim came downstairs before 2 p.m. in a coat and other winter gear. McCormick junior Tina Wang said she plans her schedule so she will not be in the dorm at 2 p.m. and often packs a bag and eats or studies in the library or at Norris University Center to avoid the drills, she said.
Some students worry the fire drills could be more detrimental than beneficial to student safety. Such frequent drills are worrisome because they may result in a “boy who cries wolf” scenario, Ghazali said.
“There could be an actual fire, and no one will come out,” he said.
The Housing Department asked Evanston to reduce daily fire drills to twice-a-week drills partly to prevent that scenario, Delin said.
Students said they were not sure why fire drills must occur so often.
“I realize it’s an important thing to get the fire alarm and emergency system right, but I don’t know what’s happening,” Wang said.
The Foster-Walker fire alarm system is an older system, and it’s about time it gets replaced, Delin said.
Weinberg sophomore Ellen Burmester was eating lunch in one of Foster-Walker’s dining halls when the alarm sounded Tuesday.
“It’s inconvenient,” she said. “But if it makes it all safer, it doesn’t matter.”
