Wilson said that his biggest fear is that students will fail to evacuate a building during a real fire because they believe it is yet another false alarm. If a student is caught intentionally sounding a fire alarm, he or she is subject to judicial action. The minimum penalty for pulling a false alarm is removal from the Residence Halls, said Wilson. Depending on the student's record, he or she may also be expelled from the university. False alarms put students in danger by desensitizing them to real alarms.
People get a cavalier attitude about responding to fire alarms.
Julie Weber, Director of Residential Life, agreed that students are less likely to evacuate the building when the number of false alarms is high. Many students attempt to avoid the evacuation by hiding, she said. Students who ignore fire alarms are subject to judicial action. It can be difficult to catch people who cause false alarms, Wilson said. Unfortunately, none of people who pulled false alarms this year were caught, he said.