AU's fire alarm system is fully functional, Willy Suter, facilities management director, said, dispelling recent rumors that parts of the McDowell Hall fire alarm system were not functioning. Still, many students say they do not take fire evacuations seriously due to the large number of false alarms, especially in the South Side residence halls.
According to Suter, AU is "above [District] code." Suter said the Hamilton building, for example, has a fire alarm despite it not being required because of the building's small size.
Most buildings on campus - except for Hamilton, Kreeger, parts of Watkins and the Sports Center Annex - are connected to a central alarm system that sounds an alarm in Public Safety as well as in the building, Suter said in an e-mail.
"This central system constantly diagnoses problems with the system and notifies Public Safety of any problems," he said.
Most of the fire safety problem at AU is the large number of false alarms, mainly on South Side, according to some students.
Many students, who declined to give names for fear of being penalized, said they do not go outside for fire alarms because of the multiple false alarms.
Leeanna Rubin, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she would not answer whether or not she goes outside, because in her view "having a fire is unlikely."
Not leaving for a fire alarm can be a fatal mistake, according to the 1987 report released by the United States Fire Administration, a division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It said fake and false alarms lead to students not evacuating, which can be a fatal mistake.
According to the ABC affiliate in Philadelphia, 75 people have lost their lives in student housing fires since January 2000.
Fires in residence halls are also a serious problem. There were 1,300 fires in high school, private and preparatory schools and university dormitories, as reported in the March 2001 U.S. Fire Administration newsletter.
Juliana Fritz, a freshman in CAS, said she always leaves for fire alarms. She said she asks herself, "What if there is a real fire?"
Lisa Barroca, a freshman in the School of International Service, also said she goes outside but hates fire alarms because it's "really cold." However, she said she can't blame the students who don't leave the dorm buildings.
No one was injured in the most recent fires at AU, which took place in fall of 2003 when trashcans in the laundry rooms in Letts-Anderson-Centennial were set on fire in the middle of the night. In the 1980s, there were two major fires, according to Suter.
The conference room in Roper "burned up" in an arson fire, he said and the Dumblane building on the Tenley campus was heavily damaged in an arson fire as well.
RESIDENCE FIRES CAUSE DAMAGE, DEATH
Although no major fires have struck AU since the 1980s, fires have recently affected residence halls and off-campus housing at universities nationwide. These fires have caused injuries, serious damage and in some cases fatalities. The following are example of recent fires:
Nov. 9, 2003 - A fire destroyed a University of Connecticut fraternity house with no working fire alarms.
Sep. 26, 2003 - A fire occurred in a "secret room" in a fraternity house at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and firefighters were able to locate the room.
Feb. 22, 2003 - A fire at an off-campus wood frame house at Allegheny College in Meadville, Penn., destroyed the house and killed one student.
Jan. 1, 2003 - A fire at an off-campus house near Pennsylvania State University caused $40,000 in damage.
April 7, 2002 - A fire at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., caused $1 million in damage to a residence hall.
Feb. 16, 2002 - A residence converted in to student housing at Amherst College in Amherst, Mass., caught fire.
April 10, 2000 - A Massachusetts Institute of Technology student attempting to commit suicide lit her clothing on fire in her residence hall room.
Jan. 19, 2000 - An arson fire at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., killed three male freshmen and injured 49.
Sept. 18, 1998 - A student was killed in his dorm room at Murray State University in Murray, Ky., after a suspecting hazing incident involving an arson blaze.
May 12, 1996 - A fire at University of North Carolina-College Hill fraternity house killed five juniors and injured three.
SOURCES: The College Fire Prevention Act, aka HR 128 IH, and United States Fire Administration
