Chances are that anyone who was in the University Union on Saturday around 2 p.m. was caught off-guard when they were evacuated from the building. Firefighters had arrived on the scene and, after a thorough search of the building, concluded that a faulty smoke alarm was the culprit behind the chaos. Life stood still as a crowd of around 150 waited in front of the bookstore wondering what was happening inside the Union. Nobody seemed to know what to make of the whole ordeal and confusion was in the air. Only after the firefighters were headed back to their vehicles, which included a fire truck and two SUVs, were people allowed back into the building. Yet, about 10 minutes after everything appeared to be back to normal, the smoke alarm started up again. This time it was ignored.

This is not the first time in my four semesters of attending Sacramento State that a faulty smoke alarm has gone off. Actually, I have lost count. It happens so often that my hearing has started to adapt to the punchy buzzing sound and smoke alarms are starting to be put on the back-burner. As a result, I tend to go about my business – sometimes not thinking twice about the noise. I do feel safer in the Union than I do in some of the other buildings on campus though; I would rather have a faulty alarm than none at all.

Some of the buildings do not meet the standard when it comes to having smoke alarms in every room. Surprisingly, Tahoe, Alpine and Brighton Halls don’t have alarms at all. This is when I don’t feel safe! These three buildings are made of steel and concrete, which would make them difficult to burn. However, though the buildings might withstand flames, smoke inhalation is just as dangerous to the building occupants. Just the thought of never even knowing if there is a fire a couple of classrooms down due to the lack of maintenance scares me half to death.

It also didn’t occur to me until the other day that I would have no idea where to go or what to do if a fire or another disaster took place here on campus. This left an uneasy feeling in my stomach. We should be able to roam around without worry in our minds. We definitely need to be cautious about our surroundings, but not worry. Something needs to be done before an actual disaster takes place, especially one that could be prevented.

This is the first time that I have witnessed an evacuation and I’m glad to see that one took place. It might be an annoying process to have a building be evacuated every time the faulty alarm decides to be the center of attention, but when it comes down to it, it’s better being safe than sorry.

Sarah Kay Hannon can be reached at [email protected].