False Alarms Sound at Three Harvard Buildings

Fire alarms accidentally went off in the Fogg Museum, Claverly Hall, and Peabody Terrace yesterday because of a mishap in the Server Hall construction project, causing the evacuation of hundreds of students and tourists

Construction officials attributed the false alarms to a surge in water pressure occurring when the main leading to Sever Hall was turned off

"The main was connected with other buildings," explained John J. Cusak, superintendent of the Cambridge Water Department The lowered pressure in Sever created a temporary rise in pressure to the other buildings, causing the sprinkler system to malfunction.

Classes and visitors returned to the buildings within 10 minutes.

Harvard's Fire Protection Engineer, David E. Breen, called incidents of yesterday's type infrequent, although he said the Claverly Hall alarm system was set off two years ago because of similar water pressure problems with the subway construction on Mass Ave.

Breen added that the University currently harbors more concern over accidental soundings of new smoke detectors. "The Lowell House false alarms are one of the most worrisome things to me. We're facing more and more problems with smoke detectors than water mains," he said