From nighttime cookie dough cravings to early morning curling iron sessions, nothing is safe from the wrathful screech of a dorm fire alarm. 

Providing more sleep deprivation than safety precaution, the fire alarm system may have lost its credibility throughout the residence halls. 

ACU values the on-campus community and requires students to live in residential halls for the first two years.  

As residential halls typically house 18–20-year-olds, fresh out of the bubble-wrapped safe zone of parental guidance, now armed with secondhand microwaves, it comes as no surprise that blaring fire alarms at 2 a.m. is a recurring incident.  

Sophie Lopez is a junior advertising and public relations major from San Salvador, El Salvador. Lopez is a resident assistant at Dillard Hall, a retired senior living facility repurposed as a dorm for sophomore women. Sometimes the alarms are not loud enough to reach some residents, Lopez said. 

“There was an RA on call, and she couldn’t hear the fire alarm from her room, but other RAs could hear it,” Lopez said. “So, they woke her up while the fire alarm was going on.” 

Lopez said that Dillard’s residence director is working to fix the issue. 

Aidan Kluth is Lopez’s boyfriend and an RA at Mabee Hall. 

“Lots and lots of fire alarms go off in Mabee Hall for sure,” said Kluth, junior biblical studies major from Rochester, Minnesota.  

Sikes Hall reopened this academic year as Mabee Hall, a dual-gendered freshmen dormitory, housing just under 200 students for the first time in two years. Originally Sikes Hall and renamed after an old male freshman dormitory, the hall is colloquially referred to as ‘New Mabee.’ 

“The number one reason that the fire alarms go off is because people burn their food or because girls burn their hair with their curling or straightening irons or flat irons,” Kluth said. “And that’s ridiculous.” 

One of Kluth’s residents Jacob Behrendt, freshman animal science major from Boerne, said he may have taken part in one of the false fire alarms.  

“My friend and I were so hungry,” Behrendt said. “And we had cookie dough.” 

Behrendt said his friend had the bright idea to bake the dough in the microwave. They set the cookie dough for a minute. 

“I told her, watch the microwave,” Behrendt said. 

As Behrendt returned from the restroom, he smelled something burning. The microwave was cloudy and full of smoke – a ticking time bomb. 

Behrendt said he watched the scene in slow motion as his friend reached for the smoke-loaded microwave and the alarm started to yell. 

“The whole time I was trying to not act suspicious,” Behrendt said.  

Occasionally, the fire alarm will sound in the middle of the night, Kluth said. Kluth recalls one specific ear-piercing dream turned reality.  

“One time the fire alarm went off at like 2:30 a.m. because a girl was straightening her hair, and I have a lofted bed,” Kluth said. “I woke up, and I almost fell out of my bed and like, fell six feet to the floor.” 

ACU cheerleader Layla Garber is another victim to inconveniently timed Mabee fire alarms. Garber is a freshman psychology major from Boerne.  

Garber also recalls the infamous 2:30 a.m. fire alarm vividly as she said an eventful moment as well. When the alarm initially sounded, Garber’s roommate did not wake up. 

Garber said she yelled her roommate’s name several times and had to poke her awake. When the two made it to the hallway, the other students stood in confusion, all still half asleep, unsure whether to evacuate. 

“All the girls are looking down the hallway like, ‘Do we go? What do we do?’” Garber said.  

Taking the initiative, Garber went to the RA’s room – who had not come out yet.  

Garber’s RA did not hear the alarm until Garber opened the door. Just as Garber stepped foot back into the hallway – the alarm turned off.  

“I was like, ‘Are you joking?’ So, I went back to bed, but, oh my gosh,” Garber said.  

Just as the fire alarm favors throwing nighttime fits, it is no stranger to interrupting bath time.  

Garber said she experienced the alarm sounding as she was taking a shower. 

“I was like, ‘Oh crap!’ So, I quickly dried off, got clothes on, was leaving, and then it turned off very quickly,” Garber said. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? I did all that for what?’” 

Ryker Ratliff is the RD in Mabee Hall and assistant director of student experience for Res Life. 

“Every time, you never know if it’s real or not real,” Ratliff said. “I think, unfortunately, due to how many times it went off, people started getting maybe slightly apathetic towards things.” 

After a few short-lived fire alarms, students stopped evacuating altogether.  

Ratliff had to send an informational email, reminding students to take every alarm as if it were real. 

“Keep coming down and evacuating, because if it was real, then it would be a lot more dangerous,” Ratliff said. 

As the Spring semester wraps up and the summer passes, the freshmen will move into their respective sophomore dorms. Only then, will the true cause of the fire alarm debacle be known: Are the Mabee fire alarms too sensitive? Or, does the class of 2028 need some cooking lessons?