September, 2001.
Volume 44, No. 05

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The Carillon brings you the weekly news from the University of Regina.

Contact:
The Editor
Newsline:
(306)-586-8867
Fax:
(306)-586-7422
Room 227
Riddell Centre
University of Regina

Students in the Education building were quickly evacuated after an alarm was set off by a water sprinkler on Thursday, September 6.

Students waited patiently for 45 minutes as fire trucks and campus security investigated the situation last Thursday. No one was allowed to re-enter the building until the area was determined safe.

Pat Patton, Manager of Campus Security, reports that there was a preliminary drop in pressure in the water supply, which caused the alarm to sound. Patton says that they do not know what caused the drop and investigations continued after the fire fighters finished their initial investigations.

Such a drop in water pressure can be caused by smoke or fire, says Patton. However, those two factors did not instigate the alarm on Thursday.

Patton says that every fire alarm must be treated with concern, even if it does not pose immediate danger.

Arnold James, Manager of Custodial Services, says that there were a few glitches where students didnąt want to evacuate. łPeople didnąt want to move until we said this is for real.˛

Nikole Lekness, a third-year Education student was under the impression that the alarm was part of a routine fire drill. Her professor checked the halls to see what the commotion was about. łOnce we saw other people leaving, we began to evacuate,˛ says Lekness. łIt came as a total surprise to everyone. It really wasnąt a joke.˛

James says that everything went smoothly and that the alarm on Thursday will be counted as one of the routine fire drills.