The past month has seen several fire alarms going off at Carleton, both in academic and residential buildings across campus.
Timothy Golding, the fire prevention and safety officer at Carleton, said in an e-mail that despite the amount of ongoing construction on campus, most alarms this September went off in residence buildings.
“For the current year the leading cause of fire alarms on campus was [intentional or accidental] occupant actions,” he said.
The main cause of alarms being set off in academic buildings was nearby construction work, Golding added. He said no issues have arisen from the construction site of the new Health Science building. Most of the construction-related alarms went off during the summer, according to Golding, and the majority that have gone off over the past month have been in residence buildings.
“The residence buildings as a whole generate more alarms than other buildings on campus,” Golding said.
In Glengarry House, there have been eight fire alarms requiring full evacuation of the building since Sept. 3. In an e-mail sent out to students in Glengarry by Laura Storey, director of housing and residence life, she said “Of these fire alarms, approximately half were caused by malicious behaviour on the part of students or guests in our community.”
Despite having experienced a fire drill early in the morning in residence along with one in the dining hall, Oleksandr Shvets, a first-year political science student, said he and his peers kept their cool in both incidents and stayed positive.
“Whether it’s a test or a real alarm, you should act the same and [stay calm],” he said.
Shvets also added that while no one was stressed during the fire drills, students did consider it an inconvenience.
While smoking and vaping are prohibited both inside campus buildings and their immediate vicinity, less obvious culprits have been identified, according to Golding.
Accidental alarms are often caused by any activities involving smoke, dust, or vapour, he said. Aerosol products such as hair sprays in residence can also trigger false alarms.
Even though false alarms might originate from innocent activities such as using hair spray, they are treated equally by the Ottawa Fire Services (OFS), Storey said.
“When an alarm sounds in a residence building it dispatches Ottawa Fire Services immediately. A call to them requires that they send a significant number of trucks and people to respond,” Storey said.
Given OFS’ limited resources, attending false alarms on campus presents the risk of another potential dispatch elsewhere in Ottawa being ignored, Storey said.
According to Golding, intentional triggering of false alarms—such as activating fire alarm stations or tampering with the smoke detectors—remains a serious issue.
“[These actions] are considered malicious acts of vandalism and will result in severe sanction from Carleton University and the Ottawa Fire Service,” Golding said.
Storey said the housing department is working with campus stakeholders to help lessen future false fire alarms.
“All student, staff and visitors can help by avoiding activities that cause false alarms,” Golding said.
