Nearly every school in the United States has been subject to false fire alarms at one point or another. Whatever the cause, the school goes through the same procedure: fire alarm sounds, all students evacuate, firemen come and check the building, firemen leave, bell rings, students re-enter. This usually takes 15-10 minutes, delighting virtually every student with a refreshing break from the monotonous tone of the school day. What is often not considered, however, is the potential danger of creating a false fire alarm. Not only does it send students and faculty amuck, but it also causes a disturbance to the emergency rescue teams that are called to the school.

Three weeks ago the fire alarm rang at George Mason High School during first lunch/block 5A. The cause: a kid playing a practical joke. The result: a very disorganized student body and worried teachers. The potential tragedy: that the fire department had to send three units to respond, removing resources from people who might actually have needed them.

"I think it was absolutely ridiculous. It is completely obnoxious for one of our students to think it funny to do something like that," said senior Alexis Koutoulakos.

The alarm, however, can be viewed in a more positive light when one considers the effect it had on the school and administration. Because fire drills are always premeditated and planned when every student is in class, the students and faculty were at a loss when the alarm went off during lunch. Fires certainly don’t happen at perfect times, so why should drills? Many students who had open campus or lunch were rather worried because they didn’t know where to report to during the drill.

"I was coming into school after being off campus, and I got really confused because everyone was outside…I didn’t know what to do or where to go," said senior Becky Davis. "It’s definitely a problem, maybe we need to do something about that. Fires aren’t going to be perfectly planned."

Clearly, the recent false fire alarm has demonstrated the potentially hazardous situation of a real fire at Mason, opening many eyes to this fearful concept, and making it apparent that the school needs to shift its fire-drill policies and rules. Bobby Penland, who has fifth block Open, expresses similar sentiments, and describes his experience.

"I was pretty confused when it happened. Technically we could have been in school if it was a real fire," said Penland

"In class you have designated areas where you go during a drill, but not otherwise. People were in lunch, returning from off campus, and transitioning between classes. There was a lot of confusion as to where people were supposed to go. A lot of people just left, they didn’t take attendance or anything," said senior Alexis Koutoulakos. Koutoulakos continued, suggesting that,

"They should let us know where our designated areas to go are and who we are supposed to report to as opposed to just running outside. It’s important that they announce to us what our responsibilities are in a situation like that." It is certainly important for the school to have a rather serious situation like this one premeditated, and it is concerning that they have not. Others are more positive when considering the occurrence.

"I think it was handled as well as it possibly could have been. It was a difficult situation and I think the administration did the very best they could. It was unfortunate that it happened during lunch," said Math teacher Mrs. Janet Weber. "Fires do not occur at planned times."

The false fire alarm created worry about safety in school, but what about outside of school? People often forget that with every fire alarm, the city and its surrounding counties have to send emergency units to the school. When the fire alarm at school goes off, two engines and one truck are sent to investigate. Standard operating procedure and policy requires that this happen. The firemen then check the fire control panel that indicates where the alarm is coming from, and go to that area of the school to check it out.

"Even if it is clear to the faculty that the alarm is false, Virginia code does not allow anybody but the fire department to reset the fire alarm. Sometimes the schools have arrangements with us if they know that someone is goofing off, but we are still obligated to send a unit up to investigate and take a report," said Falls Church Volunteer Fire Department Chief Pat Evinger. According to Evinger, "nine times out of ten, alarms at school are fake." Perhaps students do not completely understand the external dangers that pulling a fire alarm causes.

"False fire alarms take resources away from those who actually need them, tapping our resources unnecessarily. We treat every call as though it is a true emergency. We go screaming out of hear with lights and sirens, and we risk our lives and the lives of citizens to get there as fast as we can, just to find out that it’s a false alarm. You’re literally risking people’s lives by pulling a false fire alarm. The only line of duty death that the FCVFD has had was a firefighter who was killed when he fell of the apparatus going to a false alarm. That kind of brings it into perspective," said Evinger. Pulling a fire alarm without cause is a criminal offense, and those who are caught are liable for prosecution, depending on whether the school decides to press charges or not.

"In some schools, where it’s been a chronic problem, they’ve gone as far as installing an ink that activates when the alarm is pulled, marking your hands," said Evinger. Although George Mason is lucky enough not to have to turn to these measures, every false alarm does increase the non-chalant attitude that students and teachers all too often acquire towards fire alarms.

"The bad thing about false alarms is that it gets people so used to the alarm going off that it is not an unusual event anymore, and that’s what it needs to be. People get really lackadaisical about fire alarms, especially in office buildings and other places. That causes us a lot of grief if it actually is a real emergency," said Evinger. Students demonstrated this type of behavior during the false alarm at Mason.

"I think a lot of us were in lunch and we were refusing to go out. It wasn’t until Bilby came when we actually got up to leave the school building," said junior Claire Montgomery.

"False fire alarms endanger everyone in the area, because they pull resources out of here or wherever the units are coming from. In fire and rescue, a couple of minutes or even a few seconds can make a big difference," said Evinger.