Fire Alarm Causes Mary Lyon Evacuation

MARY LYON HALL—A burnt bagel left nearly 40 students, faculty, and staff displaced at about 12:45 p.m. this afternoon. All of those in the building were evacuated immediately and waited until the fire department gave clearance for reentry.

The fire alarm went off due to the smoke found throughout the lower level of Mary Lyon. University Directive Officer Richard Bailey said the alarm went off due to a burnt bagel.

“I was sitting in my room with my headphones on and then I heard the beeping, said Connor Brown, Junior political science major and Mary Lyon resident. “So I’m thinking ‘is that a truck outside backing up or something’ and realized no it’s the fire alarm.”

No one was harmed or in any great danger during this occurrence. The staff in Residential Life were very willing to talk about the incident, “I burnt the bagel because I was busy working. I popped it down, went back to doing my work and next thing you know the alarms are going off,” said Kathy Peverly, Housing Services Coordinator of Residential Life.

Those waiting outside of Mary Lyon for clearance discussed whether or not they thought the alarm went off as part of a drill. This including a student who stood waiting in a towel surrounded my peers, as well as faculty and staff members.  

“Everyone is safe and students did what they were supposed to do, including ones in the shower,” said Peverly.

The Residental Director of Mary Lyon, Bob Feeny spoke about the importance of the student response to the alarm. “It’s really important that people get out of the building when the fire alarm goes off,” said Feeny. “Sometimes it’s actually an emergency. A lot of the times it isn’t, but when it is, people need to get out.”

Jill Martineau, Manager of Residential Life Operations said, “Moral of the story…Tend to your bagel [laughs].”