From Jan. 24 to Jan. 26, students evacuated the building as Brien McMahon Hall fire alarms were activated each day.
On Jan. 24, a fire drill that is required to be conducted within 30 days of the academic semester was held. According to UConn Fire Chief Christopher Renshaw, the fire drills are done during evening hours. However, they were set off around noon “due to the impending storm and colder weather that was forecasted.”
On Jan. 25, according to university spokesperson Stephanie Reitz, low temperatures caused a water pipe to freeze and burst, triggering the fire alarms.
On Monday, Jan. 26, the use of a hair care product too close to a smoke detector activated the alarms, according to Reitz.
After the pipe burst on Jan. 25, elevators on the North side of the building, the ground floor and the laundry room located on the ground floor were closed off to students for a short period of time. UConn Facilities Operations quickly repaired the damaged pipe, according to Reitz.
McMahon Resident Assistant Anne Hoaglund, a senior political science and sociology double major, saw the pipe leak on the ground floor after the alarms went off on the second day.
“I assumed someone burned popcorn in their dorm,” she said.
Hoaglund said when she saw the water spill, she was confused about how the leak happened. She said she worried about “the extent of the damage and how it could impact residents.” She was one of the resident assistants on duty working to get students to exit the building.
When the fire alarms activated, a buildup of students blocked the stairways as many were hesitant to exit the building. After resident assistants’ persistence, the majority of students complied.
Still, due to active snowfall and frigid temperatures, a few students remained in the building.
According to Patch, by Monday morning, the total snowfall at Storrs was 14.9 inches. Weather tracker website timeanddate reports Storrs being 14 degrees Fahrenheit around the time students were evacuating the building on Jan. 25. Some of the students that did not leave the building were wearing shorts, slippers, or were in their pajamas.
“We recognize and sympathize with the inconvenience that our students and employees face when these incidents occur, and our public safety personnel work to identify and address the issues quickly so we can safely allow people to return and reoccupy the spaces,” Reitz said via email.
Reitz added that everyone should treat the fire alarms seriously and exit the premises when fire alarms are activated.