Loud fire alarms awoke Orchard Apartment residents without warning on Tuesday, Jan. 27. Instead of a routine drill where Resident Assistants (RAs) and other building staff know what to expect, this incident was real.
Residents immediately evacuated the building and Residence Life quickly contacted the Grand Junction Fire Department (GJFD). Firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after to address the situation. They worked for a few minutes to determine the cause.
“A sprinkler broke, and we had to have someone come out and fix it,” an unnamed RA from the Orchard Apartments said.
The RA mentioned that this news was the best-case scenario. However, the RA still viewed the situation as scary.
Sophomore mass communications major and Orchard Apartment resident, Sadie Chappuis, described the evacuation as a “whirlwind” of an experience.
“Me and my roommates just looked at each other, and we were like, ‘This isn’t real, right?’” Chappuis said.
Chappuis and her friends quickly learned the truth after believing the evacuation resulted from a scheduled fire drill.
“All of us were just kind of confused [about] what was going on,” Chappius said. “But then we saw the sprinklers going on and kind of just laughed, because we found out that someone was, like, messing with them.”
The Orchard Apartment RAs said they know how to handle that type of situation despite resident concerns like Chappuis’. “Fire safety” is among the top priorities in the safety portion of duties performed by an RA.
“Your first main concern is the safety of you and your residents, so trying to get everyone out of the building and getting them all to the band practice field,” an unnamed Orchard Apartment RA said.
The Stampede Practice Field in front of the Health Sciences building is the designated fire safety zone for the Orchard Apartments.
Students were allowed back inside of the building once the dispatched firefighters finished repairing the broken sprinklers.
Residence Life sent the following email to residents of the building following the situation:
“Thank you for your cooperation and patience during today’s building evacuation. We appreciate how quickly and calmly everyone responded. The building has been fully cleared, and it is safe to resume normal routines. The evacuation was caused by a damaged exterior sprinkler head. There was no fire and no danger to people or property. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to the Residence Life staff. Thank you again for your understanding.”
