Due to the recent fire that left Larch Hall’s Wolf House destitute and 63 students without permanent residence, the ring of a fire alarm may be regarded with more panic.

This, however, was not the case with Morrill Hall, which had two false fire alarms go off Monday morning.

The building’s two false fire alarms were due to mechanical problems with the alarm system, said Lt. Kevin Peterson, Ames Fire Department.

The building’s false fire alarm first went off at 10:20 a.m. The building, which only had one floor occupied, was evacuated.

Only 20 people were in the building at the time of the alarm.

The Ames Fire Department received a call about the fire at 10:29 a.m., Peterson said.

Peterson said there was never any doubt the alarm was false.

He said when the fire department arrived at Morrill Hall, the firemen on the scene tried to reset the alarm. As they were trying to reset the alarm, the alarm once again went off.

“ISU found the detector that triggered [the alarm,]” Peterson said. “I think ISU maintenance is going to replace the [malfunctioning] head of the alarm.”

Jeanette Foshee, extension communications for Morrill Hall, said false alarms are nothing out of the ordinary for the building.

“We’ve had some false alarms in the past with our fire system,” Foshee said. “I think the last time a false alarm went off was probably last year.”

Foshee said no worker in the building feared the alarm was because of an actual fire.

“It was just one of those usual Morrill Hall incidents,” Foshee said. “It’s an older building, and with older buildings, these things tend to happen.”

Peterson said although the Department of Public Safety usually directly receives any fire alarms, for some reason DPS did not receive the call.

Peterson said the fire department called DPS, and they sent a unit over to Morrill Hall.

“Some of the older buildings [on campus] are not hooked [directly into DPS,]” Peterson said.

He said he believes DPS will investigate the problem.