By Michael Brice-Saddler and Carly Kempler
At around 6 a.m. Monday, residents of Terrapin Row’s Building A awoke to the sounds of a voice telling them to “please exit the building.”
A fire alarm went off in the building, forcing students to wait outside for more than an hour, residents said.
Captain Dave Peterson, who was one of the Prince George’s County Fire Department firefighters on the scene, said the alarm was going off due to a sprinkler bursting inside the sauna room.
“We had to secure the control valves in the ceiling, there was no fire,” Peterson said.
The alarm rang intermittently until about 7:07 a.m., residents said. During that time at least 50 students re-entered the building, despite the alarm’s presence, said Ellie Silverman, a senior journalism and government and politics major, a Terrapin Row resident and an editor at The Diamondback.
Some residents, such as junior public health major Kayleigh Kinnelly, said the firetruck’s 6:28 a.m. arrival was very late.
“It took forever, I don’t understand why the alarm kept going off and turning back on,” Kinnelly said. “Nobody was out here directing us.”
Residents were permitted to reenter Building A once the alarm finally subsided at around 7:08 a.m.
The building’s alarms continued to flash without noise even after people were allowed back inside.
Peterson could not comment on why the alarm went off intermittently.
Terrapin Row officials sent an email at approximately 5:18 p.m. Monday informing residents that “the fire alarm went off in Building A due to a sprinkler head being discharged in the Sauna,” the email also stated no one was hurt during the incident.
The sauna in Building A will be “temporarily unavailable while repairs are being completed,” according to the email.
Editor’s note: Carly Kempler is a Terrapin Row resident.
