By John Custodio

SUNY Oswego’s Hart Hall, which is nine floors and can house 340 students in double and medical single rooms, has experienced 36 fire alarms in the fall 2021 semester alone, according to residents.

Sophomore Samantha Cedeno, a resident of Hart Hall, has counted 36 to be exact, with five happening on the evening and night of Nov. 7 and the early morning of Nov. 8. Cedeno said she is tired of the alarms, as they are both annoying and disrupt her sleep schedule which has led to class absences.

“There were five fire drills, starting from 7 [p.m.] until like 1 a.m., and then one in the morning of Monday at 8 a.m.,” Cedeno said. “I’ve missed class twice because of it, and I’ve emailed my teacher because I have an 8 a.m., and I have fire alarms at 1 a.m. and like 3 a.m.”

Cedeno also says that the residence hall director (RHD) Lexi Booth and residence assistants (RA) have not been helpful, with no clear answer to the problem.

“We have no kitchens now, because we had five in one night which is kind of stressful” Cedeno said. “They just closed them down, and that’s all.”

Cedeno said the ResLife staff has not given a date as to when the kitchens will be reopened, and that she only learned they had been closed when she attempted to use one, and wished ResLife had sent an email about the closure and when they would be reopened.

During an alarm, Cedeno said a fire marshal went around to people outside the building and talked about the importance of fire safety and proper handling of things that may set off alarms.

Sophomore Jack Reardon agrees with Cedeno’s sentiments, and said what he thinks have caused the alarms.

“From what I can gather, it has been a combination of people cooking poorly, like one guy set it off twice in a day by [messing up] his cookies, and then he went back inside and did it again,” Reardon said. “Another guy put a fork in the microwave, hit on, and ran away.”

Reardon said Booth explained the fire alarm system was updated, and the new alarms are much more sensitive to any particles that may set them off.

“They got a new alarm system, and Lexi said that they are really sensitive to anything,” Reardon said. “And I know somebody that had accidentally set it off with their hairspray.”

Reardon counted forty for the semester, and said there are only supposed to be a total of five drills. He said he would guess the average alarms per week would equal about one a day, with some happening multiple times a day.

“[The alarm] literally went off three times, once at midnight, once at 2 a.m. and once at 3 a.m.,” Reardon said. “The 3 a.m. one I literally went to my car, got in and turned the heat on, and emailed my professor saying I was going to be late that morning.”

Reardon also says they can narrow down the floor alarms were set off on, as his RA said his floor was the only floor to not set off the alarms yet. Reardon said that if the alarms continued so often, he would want to move to another dorm as he suffers from anxiety and the constant alarms are not helpful. He said many other students, including international students, have talked about moving out of Hart if the alarms continued. Cedeno also said she has also considered moving out of the building.

“Me and my roommate were kind of pissed, and we’re like, is it too late to move out?” Cedeno said. “It is something we would consider if this was to keep going on. But I feel, and I hope at this point, that people have learned their lesson.”

Hart Hall residence assistants, residence hall director Booth and ResLife did not respond when reached for comment.

John Custodio | The Oswegonian