Fire alarms sound on campus
Turner Hall and Steger Student Life Center evacuated Thursday, cleared shortly after
By Ariel Cheung | Published: 02/02/12 4:42pm | Updated: 02/05/12 6:40pm | No comments
by Ariel Cheung |
Two University of Cincinnati buildings were evacuated Thursday, Feb. 2, after fire alarms sounded, caused by a burned-out light ballast and steam. Both Turner Hall and Steger Student Life Center were cleared shortly after, and no one was harmed in either incident.
Two University of Cincinnati Main Campus buildings were briefly evacuated Thursday afternoon after fire alarms sounded.
Turner Hall and Steger Student Life Center were evacuated in two separate incidents — the first caused by a fluorescent light ballast, and the second from steam released in a mechanical room, according to UC Fire Prevention.
“No harm, no foul,” said UCPD Fire Prevention supervisor Lewis Watkins. “It’s something that will happen again.”
No one was injured in the incidents, and in both cases, the buildings were cleared within the hour.
In Turner Hall, a light ballast — a device designed to limit the amount of electricity in a circuit — burned out shortly after noon, creating smoke that set off an alarm in the north lobby, Watkins said.
“When [the ballasts] get old, they burn, and when they burn, they really burn,” Watkins said.
By 12:30 p.m., the residence hall had been cleared and students had reentered the building.
Steger’s alarm, meanwhile, was set off at approximately 3 p.m. by steam released in room 370, according to UCPD Fire Prevention.
“A smoke detector doesn’t know the difference between steam and smoke,” Watkins said. “And since the building is split in two halves, we have to go to one half and look at the alarm and then down to the other to look at the problem.”
By 3:09 p.m., Steger had been cleared and declared safe.
