A fire alarm went off in MacKay Hall on Tuesday morning. Like many instances, it turned out to be a false alarm.

“The biggest problems we have are false alarms,” said Brad Jerkins, Ames firefighter. “We have to take trucks out of service when they could be used for actual emergencies. We have to treat every call like it is the real deal.”

When a fire alarm is activated, either by a manual pull or automatically, the building goes into immediate alarm through both sound and strobes.

“The fire alarm panel is programmed automatically to send out a recording that instructs residents to move to the nearest fire exit and vacate the building,” said David Bunker, safety coordinator for the Department of Residence. “Additionally, the Residence Life staff conducts fire drills twice a year to practice exiting their respective residence hall.”

The Department of Residence has an electronic system that automatically notifies ISU Police when an alarm has been pulled.

“ISU Police will immediately dispatch the Ames Fire Department to the scene to investigate or initiate action,” Bunker said. “ISU Police will also respond to the scene and accompany Ames Fire Department personnel to the area in which the alarm was activated.”

The state fire code requires monitoring of all the fire alarm systems.

“Most of the time it is a monitoring company or a direct line to the fire department,” said Kyle Gorsh, special agent supervisor for the Iowa Department of Public Safety. “They are tested to make sure that the signal is being sent by the company. There are two separate phone lines in the panel, and we verify that we received a fire alarm from the panel.”