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False alarms burn cash

Here's how much an average false fire alarm could cost Ryerson

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By Arman Aghbali

By Arman Aghbali on October 29, 201 3.

Filed under News, On Campus

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Arman Aghbali is a fourth year

journalism student and a reporter with
the Ryersonian.ca
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Toronto Fire Serv ices respond to a fire alarm at Pitman Hall on Monday , Oct. 28. (Moham ed Om ar /
Ryersonian Staff

An abnormal number of fire alarms were set off across campus last week, interrupting everything
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from study sessions to midterm exams, and while most of them were drills, at least 10 were false and
could cost the university more than $10,000.
Kerri Bailey, manager of finance and strategic planning at Ryersons campus facilities and
sustainability department, said glitches and odd circumstance triggered eight of the 10 false alarms
from Oct. 7 to 25.
Toronto Fire Services told The Ryersonian it charges institutions $410 per vehicle for every hour when
addressing malicious fire alarms, or those pulled for no legitimate reason.
Historically, theyve charged Ryerson $1,230 for every alarm response, Bailey said in an email.
In several cases, most of the fees can be waived if the institution is making efforts to prevent future
malicious alarms, according to Toronto fire Capt. David Eckerman.
Ryerson president Sheldon Levy said he doesnt know how the school could mitigate the number of
false fire alarms, but added that the fees arent unfair.

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Four hundred dollars a truck is cheap, Levy said.

But Eckerman says he worries false alarms could lead to problems in the future.
Obviously if people become too complacent then theyll react improperly when theres an actual fire,
he said.
Theyll be unsafe and wait at their desks for some secondary alert instead of leaving immediately.
Malicious fire alarms could also divert fire department resources from other potential fires. In 2010, a
false alarm at a Queens University residence building led to a fatality because trucks were too
preoccupied on campus to respond to a life and death situation, according to an article in the
Queens Journal, the universitys student newspaper.
The scenarios that led to the false alarms at Ryerson range from coincidence to poor planning.
Exhaust from Pitman Halls emergency generator activated the alarm on Oct. 7 around noon.
Twelve days later a Pitman Hall resident attempted to roast chestnuts on a grill, which triggered the
smoke detector. Various alarms in Kerr Hall went off due to elevated heat from Oct. 18 to 22.
While drills are planned and cheaper, students say they can still come at a bad time.

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Many have been dragged out of class during midterm exams early in the morning.
I found it weird that they would do it when the building was less full, said Daniel DaSilva, a thirdyear accounting student who was on the third floor of TRSM when the alarm went off.
It was kind of a hassle.
Second-year nursing student Sallie Jiang was nearly done her pathology midterm when the fire alarm
went off. Once they were outside the Podium building, their professor said the exam would have to be
rescheduled.
Its extra study time, she said. To be honest I wouldnt have done well.
Only two of the alarms set off from Oct. 7 to 23 were potentially malicious. On Oct. 23, noise blasted
through the Ted Rogers school of management when someone triggered an alarm in the Eaton
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Centre. The malls parent company, Cadillac Fairview, will foot that bill. No one knows why the
parking garage alarm went off on Oct. 18 at 5:15 p.m. All other alarms were fire drills.
Several students confused the drills for people trying to escape midterm exams.
Its the oldest trick in the book, said Igor Ljaskevic, 24, a master of engineering student at Ryerson.
Thats the first thing people think of doing when theyre trying to escape an exam, but I dont think it
will work.

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