Fire frill at AC residemce

Fire Drill at A.C. Residence

By: Moira Solano

The outside view from the Atlantic City Campus.

45 Minute Fire Drill: Real or Fake?

Atlantic City, N.J. --- On Friday, November 30, 2018 at about 6:25 p.m., another fire drill took place at the Atlantic City Campus Residential Complex. These drills have caused a lot of frustration for the students who live here since the beginning of the school year, but was it just a drill or an actual emergency?

As stated, these alarms have caused inconveniences and eye rolls by many of the students living at the Atlantic City Residence. Due to the flaws of the fire alarms that have caused people to think there was a rush to get the building up and running.

The slightest amount of heat that would be detected by the alarms was a huge issue in the very beginning. Even just the steam that came from an average shower could set off the alarms, and did on a few occasions.

There was also a lot of frustration about the number of fire drills that would happen within one day. It was kind of ridiculous to be honest. Nobody ever knew they were going to occur, and nobody was ever prepared for them because of the random trend that they had.

The day before school started and everyone was still adapting to the area, there were about one or two that happened, but these were set off at times that weren’t so bad. The weather was nice at least and the sun was out.

However, there was one that happened in the middle of the night, I would say a little after one in the morning. Most students, me included in that group, had 8:30 classes that morning, so you can only imagine how cranky that made everybody, regardless of having an early class or not. It interrupted everyone’s sleep schedules that are already not the best.

There was at least one incident that caused an emergency. This was due to cooking where not much attention was paid to watching the stove. A slight buildup of smoke was in the hallways. The fire department was informed and sent to the scene.

A mass email was sent informing students about the incident, how important it is to keep a close eye on your food, and to always be safe. Emails were also sent prior about apologizing, the inconvenience, and that they are working towards fixing them.

I wasn’t there on Friday during the recent fire drill, but I was informed about it from my roommates. The fact that a drill happened randomly didn’t surprise me, but what did was that it lasted 45 minutes. My roommate, Allie, said, “45 minutes is absurd if it was just a drill since it was cold and rainy.” She also said that they still had to stand out there regardless, risking getting sick.

She said, “So I’m thinking it was real. But in that case I think they should send us an email or something letting us know what happened.”