Disturbances from fire alarms are causing frus- trations for teachers and students, as they are re- quired to be released from the classroom each time the alarms go off.
According to Randy Melton, chief of Campus Safety, the alarms going off in the Genecov building have been the result of malfunction of the alarm systems.
“When the alarm sounds off, everyone needs to leave the building until someone in authority clears the area,” said Melton.
“We’ve had the company on campus in the last two weeks testing fire alarms. There has been an issue with the alarms,” said Melton.
The West Campus also had a fire alarm incident. The cause for that was the welding workers on the roof accidently caused the alarms to go off. Maintenance was notified immediately after the in- cident to assist on a follow up for the issue.
Construction projects going on not only have set off fire alarms, but also have caused power issues.
“It is very disturbing because it takes off time of your class, like when we’re in the middle of a review for our second test and suddenly the teacher says that we had to get up and leave the building,” said Leslie Silverio, TJC freshman.
“Genecov lost power entirely for about an hour, which had to do with the construction as they were replacing a pipe,” said Melton. “We try to get it done as quickly as we can, but we also have to make sure its cleared out and safe to get teachers and students in to class,” said Thomas Johnson, director of campus safety.
“That’s on our mind to do it, as efficient as we can, but we are also thinking about students safety,” said Melton.
“We did have an incident when a student pulled off the alarm, and they got a ticket,” said Johnson.
“Over the weekend there was a male student in Claridge Hall that pulled the fire alarm, he had reached up and pulled it and then took off running,” said Melton.
The student was identified with the assistance of the surveillance cameras on campus.
“He had said it was an accidental bump, but when you have a video of it…,” said Johnson.
“He got a ticket from us, but then he goes to Student Judicial with Damien Williams (Student Judicial Coordinator),” said Melton.
According to Thomas Johnson the incident follows up with administrative action.
