At Yale Univ. ALL fire alarms are left ringing until the source of the alarm
has been found. If it is a false alarm or a nuisance alarm in a dorm, and time
and weather permitting, we leave the alarm ringing and try to use it as a
learning experience for the students. We make a room to room search with the
Fire Dept. to make sure that EVERYONE has evacuated. If we find people who have
not evacuated, we take their names and SSN's and have a cop escort them to a
holding area ( usually the dining hall ). Once we have completed the search,
the alarm is silenced. Next, we hold a little 10 minute class as to why the
students have to evacuate. The Battalion Chief yells at them. They are
threatened with disciplinary action by the University. This is usually a
sobering experience for the students and we have few repeat offenders during a
school year.
A list of offenders is kept in the Deans Office.  If we have a repeat offender,
they are brought up in front of our executive committee for punishment.

This does not happen every time we have a false alarm. We actually only do 5-6
of these a year. But word travels fast.


Michael Fox
Dep. Fire Inspector
Yale University
Office of the Fire Marshal
314 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06515
voice: 203-432-9924
fax: 203-432-8937
email: [log in to unmask]