Halls fire alarms go from annoyance to risk as apathy rises

The fire alarm came as a surprise to first year residents at Unite Students’ East Central House, a private student accommodation sponsored by City. Now, three weeks later, students have scheduled the common clangs of the alarm into their timetables. It is an almost everyday occurrence that has come to desensitise East Central House residents to the loud chimes of the alarms.

“It’s so fucking annoying” said Caroline, a first year Psychology student at City. The first few times the alarm sounded, herds of students evacuated the building. Now the streets after an alarm are scattered with unbothered teenagers using the annoyance as an excuse to smoke.

As students have realised, the alarms are being triggered by hot steam from showering, smoking, and cooking. During the past three weeks, The Square has counted 17 fire alarms that were prompted by non-lethal accidents at East Central House.

Service and sales executive for Unite, Diane Mgborogwu, admitted that the sensitivity of the alarms has become an annoyance to both staff and residents, saying: “the alarms are easily set off by steam and smoke, there is nothing we can do about it.”

When asked whether Unite Students is willing to replace the alarms, she said: “They are never going to [because] the alarms are meant to be sensitive in order to ensure the safety of our residents.” However, there are many safe buildings in London where a hot shower does not have to set off an alarm and inconvenience everyone in the building.

Some of the alarms can last up to 20 minutes, and naturally students are raising concerns about fire alarms going off during exam weeks, where they most likely will be overloaded with work. Diane assumes the alarms will continue all year unless students follow simple instructions like keeping the door closed while showering and turning on the extractor fan while cooking.

Although the safest way to handle the redundant alarms is to simply go outside, residents are delaying their reactions to the alarms. The Unite Students motto of “keeping students safe” has become complicated as apathy begins to sap away at students’ sense of urgency.