A Muncie Fire Department commander expressed concern about the evacuation of LaFollette Complex because the fire alarm had to be manually pulled Wednesday, but Ball State University officials said the evacuation went smoothly and there is no reason to update the alarm system.
"The major issue we had was, I don't know if the fire alarm wasn't working in the building or what, but we had a major issue trying to get the students out," Battalion Chief Terry Moore told Daily News media partner NewsLink Indiana.
A Ball State employee reported the fire about 4 a.m. in a break room in the building's basement. Smoke forced Ball State and Muncie public safety officials to evacuate all the complex's residents to Worthen Arena where they waited as the Muncie Fire Department extinguished the flames.
Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president of facilities planning and management, said the alarm had to be pulled because there were no smoke detectors in that part of the building. The detectors only need to be in sleeping and food preparation areas, he said.
Fire investigator David Miller said LaFollette's alarm system is outdated, but it is still up to code because it complies with regulations that were in effect at the time of construction. LaFollette was built in 1967.
"There's nothing we really can do about that," Miller said. "There's better systems out there just because of times and advancements. To say they need to do something, it'd be nice, but most places are not going to put that kind of money in."
Kenyon said it would not be financially wise for Ball State to invest in a new alarm system for the complex because the university plans to demolish the building in a few years.
"It doesn't make sense to put money into a new system," he said.
Standing outside the building at its designated smoking area, freshman LaFollette resident Annamarie Locker said she didn't see why Ball State would be willing to pay for the recently-added smoking areas but not for detectors in all the rooms of the complex.
"If you made a smoking area, you can update the fire alarms - that's pretty basic," she said.
Alan Hargrave, director of housing and residence life, said the university inspects all the smoke detectors and replaces the batteries every summer to ensure the alarm system is still operable.
"I think if we thought student safety was at risk that we would have acted," Hargrave said. "But I don't think student safety is at risk. Are there newer models of fire alarms systems? There are. That's why we continue updating fire systems in buildings."
The last alarm upgrades in LaFollette were about seven or eight years ago, he said.
The night staff supervisor was the first to contact Ball State police, Hargrave said. After the first alarm, it took about 30 minutes to evacuate the students from LaFollette and move them to Worthen Arena.
"I was incredibly proud of the students and the staff because of how they handled the evacuation," he said. "They were orderly, they were patient and they did what they were supposed to do."
The university considers the night staff in the complex reliable enough to be able to alert the residents quickly enough when there is a fire, Hargrave said. It would be redundant to upgrade the system, he said.
"We have people who are alert. They are working there and can call proper authorities if there is a problem," he said. "[In this case] the supervisor made the call and really did an excellent job of helping show where [alarm] panels were."
Tommy Conroy and NewsLink Indiana contributed to this report.
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