Harvard Hires Firm to Examine Alarms

After more than 1000 false fire alarms since last September, the University has hired a Chicago consulting firm to investigate ways of reducing the number of bogus alarms.

"We are determined to solve the problem," Vice President for Administration Robert H. Scott said yesterday. "The University has tried everything it could think of."

The firm of Rolf Jensen and Associates will test the University's $2 million system for sensitivity and stability, making sure that humidity and dust will not continue to trigger off the system. The company will make recommendations in mid-to late May, a spokesman said.

"People have been lulled into a false sense of security by the false alarms," Scott said. "Some of the fires, such as a recent Canaday fire, are real."

McKay Professor of Applied Mathematics William H. Bossert '59, master of Lowell House--which was besieged by an average of twelve false alarms a month--agreed with Scott, saying, "My concern is that the students are in the habit of not evacuating. In addition, the Cambridge Fire Department is slower in responding to the alarms."

While the Cambridge Fire Department continues to answer all Harvard alarms, it now sends only three firemen instead of the normal seven, and also dispatches fewer ladders and engines, a department spokesman said.

False alarms have plagued the University since 1981, when a tough new city ordinance required smoke detectors in all residential buildings housing more than six persons. The University has made an ongoing effort to control false alarms, including adjusting the sensitivity of alarms in several buildings.

"But the adjustments did not do as much as we would have liked," Scott said.

In mid-December, Dean of the College John B. Fox Jr. '59 suggested that House masters take measures to insure that students respect the alarms because the rash of false fire alarms had created an "enormously dangerous situation."

The failure of students to vacate their rooms had become "a critical problem," Fox added.

The fears of the administration were substantiated in late February when a smoky fire gutted a four-room suite in Canaday. The fire broke out in C-entry which had been subject to a number of false alarms throughout February.

Some students admitted that they were tempted to stay in bed through the alarm and that they took their time leaving the dorm. No one was injured in the blaze.

In order to prevent future false alarms, the consulting group will search for the "lowest possible" sensitivity setting for the alarms. The warning system must activate when smoke density reaches 1 1/2-2 1/2 percent, but should never be triggered by humidity, dust or faulty fuse systems, a company spokesman said.