Sensitive smoke detectors desensitize students

Smoke detectors on campus are extremely sensitive, especially in the Smith Memorial Student Union building. A couple of weeks ago, a dirty smoke detector triggered the fire alarm, and everyone had to evacuate SMSU.

No one slowly shuffling to the street seemed surprised. Even the facilities department seemed desensitized by the recurring issue.

“If it’s not a real fire, we don’t even get involved,” said Mick Nelson, electrical supervisor in the facilities department.

Laser beam sensors are part of the smoke detectors on the ceiling in the SMSU ballroom, and oftentimes innocuous things set them off.

“Sometimes it’s because they let balloons go up in the ballroom,” Nelson said. “We’ve had that happen several times.”

On Dec. 1, 2012, beam detectors in the ballroom (room 355) set off the fire alarm. It was caused by helium balloons floating to the ceiling and disrupting the smoke detection beam, according to Mark Russell, manager of SMSU auxiliary services.

The alarm that went off recently in SMSU 432 was near Russell’s office. He said the device has since been cleaned.

KPSU Station Manager Jay Turk said false alarms equate to dead air on the radio. KPSU, located in the basement of SMSU, is in the process of getting a Federal Communications Commission license. Dead air can get FCC licenses revoked. But Turk is not without a sense of humor and acknowledged KPSU has had its own fire alarm faux pas.

“We had an in-studio performance, and we had recently purchased a smoke machine, and our director decided to test it and it tripped the fire alarm,” Turk said.

Tom Kean has worked at Sbarro in the food court for six months. He said it can be frustrating when seemingly harmless things trigger the fire alarms.

“I think once a lightbulb exploded at Stir Crazy. I don’t know for sure if it caused the alarm, I just assume,” Kean said. “I saw a light explode and heard the alarm go off real quick.”