False alarms: when fire isn’t the problem.
By Abbie Wong
On May 17, one PE class was holding post-workout meditation. It was peaceful. Quiet. Students might’ve appeared dead. Without the meditation guide anyone could hear a pin drop. It was a room flooded with tranquility.
Until the fire alarm went off and the floodgates opened. The class was forced onto their feet, and out of the gym, as all the alarms rang throughout the school.
As per usual fire drill procedures, right? Then why was a fire drill scheduled for during a PE class that was swimming? Why did a guy in Crocs have to line up in the scorching heat?
As Dr Brown explained minutes after the fire alarms halted their ringing, it was simply a malfunction in the fire alarm system.
Fair enough: things break sometimes and they can be repaired.
A week went by, and it turned out RCHK’s fire alarm system needed more than a repair. On May 25, another fire alarm went off, prompting fire emergency procedures and a lineup. Though not a lineup for Secondary Tang, Ming and the Primary students as it was raining, forcing them beneath shelter. But hey, this must’ve been the real fire drill, and not some malfunction. Maybe the previous malfunction took place just a week before the real fire drill.
Nope, that wasn’t a fire drill. If it was, why would it be scheduled for the Year 11 Science exam and a Year 12 Chemistry test?
It appears there’s a problem with RCHK’s fire alarm system, since it malfunctions like this so frequently.
“We were out for more than three minutes; the extra time they gave us was three minutes,” Year 11 student Renee Wong said. “I [didn’t] have enough time to finish my exam and I’m pretty sure it has affected my grade ‘cause I have blank answers.”
On the other hand, Year 11 student Chelsea Kam said “I still got the twenty minutes back but it messed up with my focus. For a lot of people having that section in the middle of our exams really messed up with what we were thinking about.”
According to Year 10 Student Council Representative Ian Tsai, a Student Council meeting with the fire alarm problem on the agenda was meant to be held on May 25, ironically the day of that second fire alarm malfunction.
“[Year 12 Student Council Representative Angus Leung] said it’s not malfunctioning, because the school checks the fire alarm system every year,” Tsai also said, while warning of punishment against anyone who pulls the fire alarm as a prank.
But there are clear reasons. RCHK Business Manager Samuel Hureau said, citing a combination of possible reasons triggering the fire alarm malfunctions. He clarified that the fire alarm system was checked multiple times to guarantee proper functionality, and that fire alarm boxes were examined to ensure they were protected from accidental triggers. He said: “It’s not uncommon for the alarm to sound unexpectedly during a sudden change in temperature, humidity, triggered by a close contact, … or by a human mistake.”
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay