Despite the fact that all of the residence halls on Nicholls campus are in agreement with the fire code, RAs in Zeringue Hall must inform the 89 residents individually when evacuation is necessary.
“According to the present code, Zeringue and North Babington do not require a fire alarm because of the way they are constructed …because of the way the doors open directly to the outside,” William Steib, campus architect, said.
Originally, Millet-Zeringue Halls were constructed as two separate buildings. Zeringue Hall was completed in 1962. Millet Hall was built in 1964 with a lobby connecting it to Zeringue, Steib said.
The two buildings have separate fire alarm systems. Therefore, when the alarm activates in Millet Hall it sounds in the lobby as well, but not in Zeringue Hall.
The current conditions in Zeringue Hall have been grandfathered in, Glenn Froisy, Facility Maintenance Manager 3 and fire fighter for Thibodaux’s Volunteer Fire Department, said.
“The system passed inspection,” O’Neil Falgoust III, co-owner of Firequest Fire Alarm Services Assoc. LLC of Baton Rouge, who checks the system annually, said.
“The system is protecting the lives of the occupants as it is supposed to do,” he said.
Another issue concerning Zeringue Hall residents is which path to take during an evacuation. Normally, students are to exit Zeringue Hall out of the front gate or out of the backyard.
However, on Oct. 13, students from Zeringue and Millet Halls were exited through the lobby, past the kitchen where an emergency took place.
A resident was frying chicken and left the food unattended. When the chicken began to burn, enough smoke was produced to activate the fire alarm in the lobby.
Larry White, hall director for Millet-Zeringue Halls and who has access to the front gate of Zeringue, declined to comment on record as to why students were exited through the lobby.
“Having to evacuate a dormitory in an area where a fire originated is definitely a safety hazard,” Mike Naquin, assistant vice president for business affairs for financial services and fire chief of Thibodaux’s Volunteer Fire Department, said.
“It’s the smoke that kills you. The fire won’t kill you, the smoke will,” Froisy said.
The fire alarm system is also checked by the fire marshal, who is due for an inspection, Mike Davis, assistant vice president for business affairs for procurement and physical plant operations, said.
The fire alarm system is required to be upgraded only when the building undergoes a major renovation, Steib said.
However, Nicholls is undergoing a campus-wide reworking of the fire alarm system.
The new system will connect the fire alarm systems from all of the academic buildings to a 24-hour monitoring station, located in University Police. It will also pinpoint exactly where the alarm sounded, indicating where the fire is located, Davis said.
According to Naquin, most of the calls they get (at the fire department) come from the residence halls.
However, due to funding restrictions, the academic buildings will be connected to the new system before the residence halls.
The funding for this project comes from two sources: deferred maintenance and the building use fee, Davis said. Funding for deferred maintenance comes from the state, which stipulates the money not be spent on auxiliary buildings, such as residence halls, Davis said.
Eventually, the residence halls will be connected to the system, he said.
Currently, there are three audio devices located in the stairwells of Zeringue Hall, Froisy said. However, residents cannot hear them in their dorm rooms.
Also, there is a smoke detector located in each room in Zeringue Hall. However, if the detector sounds, it will only be heard in that one room, Steib said.
Sources disagree as to whether residents would be able to hear an alarm in Zeringue Hall if it were activated.
Froisy and Naquin said someone would have to activate a pull station in order to activate the alarm in Zeringue Hall.
Steib is not positive the alarm would sound in Zeringue Hall even if a pull station were activated “because there is no audible signal and there is no requirement for a fire alarm (in Zeringue).”
Therefore, students must rely on an RA to knock on each individual door to inform them of a possible emergency.
Concerning the event on Oct. 13, Laura Cannon, marketing junior from St. Gabriel, said, “No one even came to bang on our windows. Somebody called from downstairs to my suitemates to tell them (to evacuate). My suite mates told me. I felt making the residents of Zeringue walk through the lobby was ridiculous. Walking out of the gate would have made more sense.”
Residents of Zeringue Hall do not feel safe, even knowing their dorm is up to code.
“I don’t feel safe because people shouldn’t have to knock on my window to let me know the fire alarm is going off. It shouldn’t be that way. If one fire alarm is going off, they should all go off. If the fire alarm is going off in the dorm next to me, I want to know so I can evacuate,” Ashley Matherne, nursing sophomore from Destrehan, said.