Wednesday, August 29.1979
University Daily Kansan
Danger of false fire call no joke
By DAVID LEWIS Staff Reporter
On April 19, 1979, a fire alarm awakened most of the fifth-floor residents at George Washington University's Thurston Hall.
A fire alarm was not unusual -17 false fire alarms had been set off at the residence hall during the previous year. Most of the alarms were over in their beds and went back to sleep.
Some of the students were lucky to wake up again.
A raging fire suddenly swept through the fifth floor and injured 34 persons, two critically.
After the incident, Gordon Vickery, U.S.
fire administrator, called false fire alarms
"a national epidemic . . . on college campuses."
The false alarm epidemic has not passed by the University of Kansas. The setting of false alarms is a big problem on campus, Lawrence fire chief said yesterday.
McSwain said the greatest danger of false fire alarms was that they prompted students to ignore all fire alarms.
IT CONDITIONS people to respond to the alarm," he said. "That's the No. 1 hazard. The problem is the systems in the buildings. People are using them for toys.
McWain estimated that KU had reported 25 false alarms in 1978, and he said KU residents were ignoring fire alarms.
"In 1978, 52 percent of the alarms at KU were false. In other parts of the city, approximately 10 percent were false."
It is a very serious problem. In many of the residential occupancies, the number of false alarms is so great that when there is a person in the building, a number of people remaining in the building.
FAILED FIRE alarms also unnecessarily strip the fire department of engines and manpower, thus depriving citizens who might urgently need assistance, he said.
M@swain said a false alarm at the visual arts building last year made it impossible for firefighters to control damage to a window. The fire could be on five minutes after the false alarm.
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"Before we could determine it was a false alarm, $11,000 in damage had been done," he said. "We could have decreased the damage quite a bit."
"GENERALLY, they come in spurts," McElhenie said.
Fred McElhene, director of the office of residential programs, said he did not know how often fire alarms went in to KU residence halls.
call us at 841-1669 14th and Monterey Way
However, he said he thought there were few.
McSwain said that in 1978 the fire department had received as many as six alarms from one building on the same day.
McElbenie said the residence halls were warning students to respond to all fire alarms.
"We have floor meetings in the fall and indicate the exit areas," he said.
McSwain said the false alarm problem was in the hands of the residents involved.
"We can't legislate control," McSwain said. "It is something the people have to control. People don't realize the harm that can be done with a false fire alarm."
FIRE OFFICIALS have gone to residence halls, sororities, fraternities and scholarship halls, informing residents of the potential danger of ignoring fire alarms.
"If there is a fire alarm, get out of the building, and be sure there is no fire," he said. "It is better to be out than to end up like students at George Washington University."
Late enrollment calm but time-consuming
Greene McKenzie, Lawrence sophomore said he had spent most of yesterday getting five signatures from departments in five different campus buildings.
By TONI WOOD Staff Reporter
Clayton enrolled late because of a dispute over his standing as a resident or nonresident. Once that was solved at 11 a.m., Clayton attended work and paid his fees at 10 a.m. yesterday.
The first-floor hallway in Strong Hall, the setting for late enrollment, seems very calm and organized compared with the classroom environment at Allen Field House.
She will take only six hours
semester, which meant getting only one
signature. As a result, her enrollment
was less lectic than the average student's.
She came to campus at 7:30 a.m.
Monday and spent the next nine hours
trying to obtain the right signatures and
strokes.
Westerday Voyt returned to campus at 8 a.m. and reached step five at 10 a.m. Most of her time was spent on step three, the process of getting approval for adding classes from certain departments or acquiring much patience and leework.
The tables were set up for late enrollment Monday, yesterday and today in the west end of the first floor of Strong Hall.
Dawn Eros, Overland Park graduate student, said, "I did it this way on purpose."
Although the process appears simple and short, there is a catch.
Elizabeth O'Neil, Lawrence graduate student, also enrolled on purpose. "I wasn't sure which of two courses I wanted to take," she said.
Susan Vogt, Lawrence sophomore, said, "It's taken me a day and a half to get to sten five."
FOR EXAMPLE, if a student wanted an English class, he would have to go to the classroom. The classes were open, pick an add up slip, and stamped by the dean of his school.
EACH STUDENT who enrolled late was stuck with paying an extra $10.
Cecil Clayton III, Kansas City, Mo., senior, said, "I think I'll do it the right way next time."
Shelly Maichal, Lawrence, spent two hours waiting to get a class that turned out to be closed.
So she went to one of the classes yesterday, decided to take it, got the instructor's signature after class and took a video of the process, the enrollment process in the afternoon.
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