New smoke detectors in the Butterfield dorms were installed over winter break, a move that caught residents’ attention. A Jan. 20 post on the student-run blog Wesleying set off speculation that the new alarms are more sensitive than the previous model. Both Middletown and University fire safety officials explained that the changes were made for routine maintenance.

Michael Pernick ’10, chair of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) of the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA), expressed his own concerns over the possibility of stronger smoke alarms.

“It is very bad if we have alarms that go off too easily,” said Pernick. “If students become accustomed to multiple false alarms, they would be at risk in the event of a real fire.”

According to Associate Director of Campus Fire Safety Barbara Spalding, the reasons for the change were a growing number of malfunctioning smoke detectors, some of which failed to go off, and some “nuisance alarms,” which would activate for no reason.

Oftentimes, when a smoke detector goes off it is not because of a dangerous fire, explained Middletown Fire Marshall Lewis LoRosa.

“Most detector activation [is] due to cooking, steam from a shower, system malfunction or some other unintentional activation,” he said. “Every so often, it can be attributed to a malicious activation.”

Spalding claims that the new detectors are not noticeably more sensitive.

Pernick said that he supports the updating of the smoke detectors in the Butterfields, but was frustrated by lack of student involvement in the process.

“I was notified that new smoke detectors would be installed after the decision was made, but students were not consulted or included in this decision,” he said. “Usually administrators include WSA representatives in decisions, and it is surprising and disappointing that they failed to do so in this instance.”

The physical location of the detectors was also changed in many rooms, in accordance to updated safety codes that demanded that all smoke detectors be between four and twelve inches from the ceiling. Fire Safety plans to make further changes within the Butterfields.

“We want to change the Butts to system [detectors] from local,” Spalding explained.

Unlike the rest of the campus’ dormitories, smoke detectors in the Butts are local alarms, as opposed to the rest of the college’s system alarms.

“They just make noise,” Spalding said, explaining that an activated smoke detector notifies only the person inside the room.

The disadvantage to a local detector is that if the resident sleeps through the alarm or is not in the room when the detector goes off, no one will be notified about the possibility of a fire.

However, hall detectors are system alarms that notify Fire Safety, and can be activated either by smoke or physically at a pull station.

“The preference is a system that reports directly to fire dispatch, but this isn’t always possible,” LoRosa said.

Still, LoRosa asserted that efforts for fire safety on campus are up to standard.

“Wesleyan’s projects during my tenure as Fire Marshall either meet or exceed the requirements of the Fire Code, and…every person involved in these projects has occupant safety at the top of their list.”