For those off-campus, there was a power outage this morning. At 8:57 Bates Hall got power back. I know this because my fan and printer started up spontaneously at this time. Immediately following the startup of my printer/fan, the fire alarm went off. Bates was cleared as per fire procedures and hundreds of Bates' students were made stand on the far side of the parking lot. This spot has absolutely no wind protection, and considering it's snowing and most of us were still in pajamas (or less in some cases) this was highly unpleasant. I am now tired, cold, and grumpy.

So now I'm curious about a few things:
1) Is it possible that the restoration of electricity caused the alarm to go off?
2) Is it possible that the alarm was triggered during the blackout, but doesn't have a backup power supply and thus went off at the restoration of power? (which would be concerning, I thought that the alarms had a backup power supply..)

If anyone has answers they would be appreciated.

I highly doubt anybody here has a working knowledge of the circuitry of the fire alarms in your residence buildings.

Originally Posted by RyanC

I highly doubt anybody here has a working knowledge of the circuitry of the fire alarms in your residence buildings.

Pretty much all the upper years lived in rez at some point. There is certainly a chance something like this has happened before. People do stupid things to set off the fire alarms. In Bates we even managed to set off the fire alarm with a fire extinguisher on Halloween.

But you have to admit, the possibility that the fire alarms don't have back-up generators is rather alarming.

I'm not sure, but the Togo salmon fire alarm went off around 9:30..

I don't think it went off while the power was off.

I think the power went off across all of campus (I was at Centro when it happened). Later I was in class and the alarm went off.

I think it has to do with the regain of power. But I don't know anything about that stuff, I'm just guessing.

When the power came back I head a very LOUD beep in my room. I don't think the fire alarm went off full blast, but yes I think it is possible that the outage triggered the fire alarm.

That really sucks, but there's always time to quickly grab a jacket before heading out of your room right? Also 9:00 am is not really that early in the morning.

Still, I agree it sucks!

Same thing happened in JHE during my math lecture. We all went outside for about a minute, no fire trucks came, and we all went back in while the fire alarm was still ringing.

To steal from one of my friends' twitter accounts...

"The power went off in Mills' lib common area...there's nothing like seeing 30+ people lose their work all at once."

1) Is it possible that the restoration of electricity caused the alarm to go off?

i would think so.... at home sometimes wen theres a blackout the fire alarm makes a weird noise... then when the power comes back it beeps aswell

No fire alarm went off during the restoration of power at Matthews Hall. We've had our fair share of fire alarms already.

Haha i was writing a test at that time in T29 no fire alarm went off there.

Happened in Mills too. Don't think it was a fire alarm for us though, more of a security alarm. Probably just has to be re/set every time mass electricity is turned on or something, lol.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

Don't think it was a fire alarm for us though, more of a security alarm. Probably just has to be re/set every time mass electricity is turned on or something, lol.

This is correct. The alarm system has its own power supply so it wouldn't be affected by an outage. Before they reset the breakers they usually evacuate the building.

As for being evacuated after the restoration of power, they probably had to do a series of tests before allowing you to re-enter.

Originally Posted by RyanC

I highly doubt anybody here has a working knowledge of the circuitry of the fire alarms in your residence buildings.

Sure about that?

What do you think I do for a summer job on campus.. haha

o.0 I slept through ALL of that?!?
-Just another day in the life of a Mac kid