Fire alarm causes some class delays
A faulty electrical ballast in the education building caused dozens of classes to congregate outside when the fire alarm sounded Tuesday morning, said USU Chief of Police Steve Mecham.
USU fire marshal Steve Bell pulled the alarm as a preventative measure. It was pulled to secure the building in case the ballast did spark and ignite anything in the room. Everyone evacuated the building until Bell confirmed the building was safe.
Mecham said police were contacted around 9 a.m. and were informed that a fluorescent light was overheating, causing the odor of an electrical burn. When ballasts in fluorescent lights become older, they have a tendency to overheat. This is not the first time a situation like this has happened on campus, Mecham said.
No classes were cancelled, but students and professors were forced to stand outside for most of their class periods until they received the OK to go back inside.
“The education building is very organized, so we had good access to the professors and students to control the situation,” Mecham said.
The ballast in the fluorescent lights are the devices that trigger lights to turn on. When a ballast has been used repeatedly for a long period of time, it may start to smoke. In this incidence, the ballast did not emit enough smoke to start the alarm on its own.
The ballast was replaced promptly and those assisting in the electrical issue cleared the problem by 9:40 a.m.
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu