False Alarm!

By ABI MIDDLETON

The

Breeze

JMU residence halls have experienced 13 “malicious” fire alarm pulls over the course of the past few weeks, according to the JMU daily crime log.

JMU Police Chief Anthony Matos, answering a question from The Breeze about ultraviolet (UV) powder usage on fire alarms across campus, said in an emailed statement Monday that powder remains on skin for several days, and officers will randomly search with UV lights during suspected malicious activations of the alarm. The powder is intended to help the police department develop probable cause for an arrest.

“Due to the extremely dangerous nature of malicious fire alarm pulls, we will prosecute any individual who maliciously and intentionally activates a fire alarm system,” Matos said in the statement.

Sarah Dean, a resident advisor (RA) in Chesapeake Hall, said the frequency of these pulls is high, with six in the span of one week starting March 20. Dean said a similar pattern of malicious pulls happened last year, with 27 total pulls in Chesapeake alone.

“It wasn’t that bad at the beginning of [this] year, I don’t think,” Dean said. “For Chesapeake, it was only really bad the past two weeks.”

Dean said while the powder is visible in

Harrisonburg Fire Department

Matthew Tobia said while the fire department doesn’t play a role in the investigations, it responds to If an RA or police officer declares no actual fire, then the fire department cancels its response, though it’s called as soon as the alarm is transmitted.

“We respond limited in an emergency mode,” Tobia said.

The malicious pulls are costly for the Harrisonburg community, as responding to a false alarm uses valuable resources, Tobia said, and it could cost precious moments for a life

Matos said false alarms are a danger, and the “biggest cost is the psychological

“Community members begin to ignore the fire alarms on campus and do not evacuate their rooms,” Matos said about when false alarms are pulled. “This is against the JMU Student Accountability Process and Standards of Conduct Handbook; it creates an unsafe environment for others

Abi Middleton at middleah@ dukes.jmu.edu. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on Twitter @BreezeNewsJMU.