Fire alarm wakes students
A discharged fire extinguisher causes a false alarm at Mark Twain.
Published Feb. 20, 2007
Students at Mark Twain residence hall received a wake-up call they weren't expecting Monday morning when fire alarms sounded just after 2:30 a.m. The incident took place just two days after a separate evening fire scare at South residence hall.
At South residence hall Friday night, the Columbia Fire Department and MU police responded to a report of smoke.
The alarm was triggered by smoke from a mechanical malfunction in an elevator, MU police Capt. Brian Weimer said.
Weimer said MU staff members traced smoke to a mechanical room. The malfunction was reported to the elevator company, repaired and in operation by press time.
Early Monday morning, Mark Twain residence hall was evacuated for more than two hours, Weimer said.
"It would have been around 2:38 a.m.," Weimer said. "There was a discharge of a fire extinguisher on the seventh floor."
Police found the empty fire extinguisher outside an open janitor's closet on the seventh floor, Weimer said.
The fire extinguisher was collected so police could attempt to get fingerprints of the people responsible. But police have no information yet about who is responsible.
Freshman Laura Ponath lives on the seventh floor of Mark Twain where the fire extinguisher was discharged.
"When I went out my door by the elevators, there was a really big cloud of what we thought was smoke," Ponath said. "After the fire alarm went off, people were starting to come out of their rooms. People just kind of rushed out."
Ponath said the student staff member on her floor, Annie Getsinger, knocked on the doors of residents' rooms and attempted to wake up all residents.
Both the Columbia Fire Department and MU police officials arrived to find the residents of Mark Twain standing outside near Turner Avenue parking garage.
An MU police officer addressed the crowd outside Mark Twain and told residents it was a felony offense to remain inside when a fire alarm goes off.
Although some students chose to leave campus in their cars, the remaining students were asked to leave the streets and stay in the Engineering Building West auditorium.
"We all went over to the Engineering Building West at like 3 a.m. and hung out there," Ponath said. "Then we all went back into the building at around 4:15 a.m."
Mark Twain Hall Coordinator Jennifer Fellabaum gave students who stayed in Engineering Building West instructions about how to return to their rooms following the building's clearing.
Fellabuam said cleaning crews from Jefferson City had to be brought in to help finish cleaning.
Students affected academically by the incident were able to get notes from the front desk of Mark Twain or through an e-mail from their hall coordinator. The letters could be given to instructors or teaching assistants.
Residential Life Director Frankie Minor was not available to comment on either incident.
— Crime editor Elliot Njus contributed to this report