2008 Woodie Awards
BK broiler sets off fire alarm in UCF Union
Lauren Paulauskas
Issue date: 4/9/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Students in the Union didn't get to have it their way on Friday when an electrical glitch at the Burger King set off a fire alarm, forcing students outside for about 30 minutes and temporarily cutting off the air conditioning.
The evacuation happened around 8 a.m. "when Burger King turned on their main broiler, the fire alarm went off," said John Bradley, the Student Union building manager and engineering major.
"When the alarm goes off, we check every floor and tell everyone to get out," Bradley said.
When students heard the screeching alarm, some must have thought back to elementary school because workers were asked, "Is this a fire drill?"
Since the Student Union is a business, workers would never conduct a fire drill just for practice.
Everyone was forced to go outside to the front of the Union, past the first brick area near the free-assembly zone, for about 30 minutes while the fire department cleared the building.
While not a real fire, the event did give Union workers some real-life practice applying their training.
Devon Mattingly, a senior elementary education major and an information desk employee, said that during the real thing, "everyone has to get a spot to clear people out."
Mattingly's job is to call the UCF Police Department, stand in the middle of the atrium and clear out the bottom floor.
According to Bradley, this isn't the first time the fire alarm was set off. In his two years working in the building, he's seen it happen about three or four times. The only actual fire he knew of in the Union was a fire on the third floor that happened last summer because someone left a lamp on.
"Some people have pulled the alarm just for jokes," senior marketing major Oren Zarif said. "They don't think it's a serious thing, but it is, because we have to call the police."
By 10 a.m. everyone was back in the building, with the fire alarms still flashing and the air conditioning still off in the SGA computer lab on the second floor.
Burger King was closed for the day on Friday after the incident.
The evacuation happened around 8 a.m. "when Burger King turned on their main broiler, the fire alarm went off," said John Bradley, the Student Union building manager and engineering major.
"When the alarm goes off, we check every floor and tell everyone to get out," Bradley said.
When students heard the screeching alarm, some must have thought back to elementary school because workers were asked, "Is this a fire drill?"
Since the Student Union is a business, workers would never conduct a fire drill just for practice.
Everyone was forced to go outside to the front of the Union, past the first brick area near the free-assembly zone, for about 30 minutes while the fire department cleared the building.
While not a real fire, the event did give Union workers some real-life practice applying their training.
Devon Mattingly, a senior elementary education major and an information desk employee, said that during the real thing, "everyone has to get a spot to clear people out."
Mattingly's job is to call the UCF Police Department, stand in the middle of the atrium and clear out the bottom floor.
According to Bradley, this isn't the first time the fire alarm was set off. In his two years working in the building, he's seen it happen about three or four times. The only actual fire he knew of in the Union was a fire on the third floor that happened last summer because someone left a lamp on.
"Some people have pulled the alarm just for jokes," senior marketing major Oren Zarif said. "They don't think it's a serious thing, but it is, because we have to call the police."
By 10 a.m. everyone was back in the building, with the fire alarms still flashing and the air conditioning still off in the SGA computer lab on the second floor.
Burger King was closed for the day on Friday after the incident.