March 8, 2013, by Ollie
Fire door CAUSES Fire…
This week I’m reporting almost from a 3rd person perspective. I was at home this week recovering from illness in my own bed, the good news, Ollie Steels, blogger, geneticist and all round great guy is getting better thanks to some antibiotics and rest (although the blood test results are still somewhat elusive… I need to chase up Cripps!). I also managed to pass my lifeguard renewal!
Qualified for another 2 years!
Whilst I’m talking about home there is nothing better than your own bed! Sorry University bed you have been good to me to be fair!
Home bed vs Uni (2nd home) bed
So after that debrief… the title. In Newark Hall (my hall) on Monday night students were woken at 4:30am by the dread that is the Fire alarm. Normally a drill or an accident, the Newark’ers were somewhat tired and slow to respond and mass outside BUT this time it wasn’t a drill! Unbeknown to the very tired students. So after they had all registered and after what seemed like an age in the freezing March weather, they were told there had been an actual fire but it was out and there had been no significant damage. Newark was saved!
the fire burnt the roof and walls.
The fire had been an electrical fire caused by a fault in a automatic fire door. Now at the time most people were just glad it hadn’t been anything serious, however, this didn’t last. Newark’ers were kept outside for another 3 hours awaiting an engineer to come and fix the fault and make sure it was safe to return. After around an hour the Newark’ers were allowed inside the Atrium where it was barely warmer but still warmer. At 7:30am the students were let back in and back to the warmth of their beds, for the few that had the luxury of a morning off from lectures.
After all the drama there were two conclusions to be made:
1) Everyone was very thankful that it wasn’t worse and everyone was okay! For some it was a bit of reality check and next time we hear that alarm everyone will treat it more seriously! As students the infamous ‘early morning fire alarms’ that seem to be highly linked to Freshers’ week cause a lack of appreciation for the fire alarms and the job they do in saving lives WHEN the time occurs
2) Secondly… how on earth can a fire door… cause a fire!
We have been assured that all is now safe but in an age where the technology that aims to stop fire can cause fire. Is our overprotection the problem?
Over to you public!
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