Residents of Fanning Hall had a surprise Thursday evening when the fire alarm went off, leaving them to evacuate the dorm into the pouring rain. As of now no fire has been reported, and the cause seems to go back to the hot water heater.
Students say that they knew it wasn’t a drill due to the rain, and that Head Resident Laurie Sain seemed a little confused as they evacuated. Because of the rain, students took cover in Burton or the student center before they were told they were allowed to return to the dorm.
After about 20 minutes, they were told the dorm was clear and they could return, only to be turned away at the door because the fire alarms had gone off again.
“I didn’t want to go sit in the basement of Burton,” said junior Amber Leach, “so instead I decided to go to Starbucks and wait it out in the student center.”
At this point students were told that it would be a while until the problem was resolved and decided to wait in the student center or other areas of campus. Residents were allowed to return to the dorm after it was cleared just before 8 p.m.