Josh Thomas, Special to The Denisonian—

Errrr. Errrr. Errrr. 

Whether it is 1 a.m. or 1 p.m. the sound of the dorm fire alarm is the last thing dorm hall residents want to hear. 

However, the frequency of these sirens is not spread evenly throughout all 33 dorms on Denison University’s campus. The first-year dorm halls of Shorney, Smith, and Crawford face these unpleasant alarms more than any other place on campus. While many first-years were warned about the stiff blue mattresses, lack of air conditioning, and changes that come with living with a roommate, most are unpleasantly surprised by that first 1 a.m. fire alarm. 

“The first time, I was sleeping at the time, so I just woke up,” said Kenny You, first-year Global Commerce major and resident of Crawford Hall. “It was around 1:30 a.m. …and the alarm is super loud, so it does force everyone to get out.”

You, like many residents of the first-year dorm halls, understands the need for smoke detectors and fire alarms but still gets annoyed when it goes off and there is no actual emergency. 

“[The alarm] is just something that just gets in everyone’s way and not for the better, especially in the middle of the night; we’re all just trying to sleep,” said You.

The frequent fire alarms in the dorms annoy not only the first-year residents but also the community advisors placed within the halls to ensure a safe environment. 

“When the fire alarm goes off, all the freshman CAs, we’re like, ‘Are you kidding me,’” said George Wang, junior community advisor in Sawyer and former Crawford community advisor. “The main culprit always seemed to be the toaster and the microwave in the common kitchen.”

Granville Township Fire Department (GTFD) data for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic years supports Wang’s opinion. Across the two academic years, only three out of 693 calls to campus had actual fires. Instead, most calls were unintentional system activations due to an accident or malfunction. 

On average, there were just over 18 calls per dorm from the first-year dorms Shorney Hall, Smith Hall, and Crawford Hall. In a traditional 30-week academic year, that is just over a call every other week from the first-year dorms. This is compared to just over eight calls per dorm for sophomore and junior living dorms and just under 10 calls per dorm for senior apartment living.

So, how can the student body reduce these alarms? According to Granville Township Fire Chief Casey Curtis, the best way is to be mindful.

“If you know that every time you curl your hair or every time you take a shower that you’re going to have a problem, talk to safety and security,” said Curtis. “If you tell them, ‘Every time I take a shower, the smoke detector goes off. Like, can we come up with a solution?’ They will help.”

A significant source of these unintentional alarms is cooking, so if the pan smokes or steams up the room every time it is used, it’s essential to be extra mindful of what’s going on.

“You’re allowed to fry bacon, but if you know that every time you do it, you set off the smoke detector, just open up a window and run a fan,” said Curtis. 

There is no quick fix that will eliminate fire alarms in the dorms. However, if the student boy actively works to lessen their frequency by heeding Curtis’s advice and thinking about their actions a bit more, they can reduce the frequency of those 1 a.m. alarms so everyone can get a good night’s sleep.