The failure of Harbin Hall’s audible fire alarm system was caused by “inadvertent human error,” according to Chief Administrative Officer Spiros Dimolitsas.

“A technician failed to properly reset the system after conducting a monthly test of a fire pump on Friday, October 22,” he wrote in a memo addressed to the University community. “The system was working on Wednesday, October 20, during our regularly scheduled evacuation drill and again on Thursday, October 21 when a smoke alarm triggered an evacuation.”

The evacuation, which began after Public Safety officers discovered students producing DMT in the dormitory’s ninth-floor, was described as “chaos everywhere” by Ted Helfrich (MSB ’14), an eighth-floor resident.

“They tried to pull the fire alarms, but they weren’t going off,” he said.

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In a meeting with campus media this evening, Todd Olson, university vice president of student affairs, and Julie Green Batialle, university spokesperson, revealed more details surrounding the DMT arrests in Harbin Hall last Saturday.

“The fact is it was a day that was confusing in many ways,” Olson said.

Olson and Bataille would not comment on any impending disciplinary actions against John Romano (COL ’14) and Charles Smith (SFS ’14), the residents of the ninth-floor Harbin Hall dorm room where Public Safety officers discovered a so-called “DMT lab” early Saturday morning.

At an arraignment hearing at the D.C. District Court this afternoon, Romano was released and relieved of all charges against him. Smith and John Perrone, a freshman at the University of Richmond, will be charged with “conspiracy to manufacture” and “possession with intent to distribute” and will be held without bail until at least Wednesday.

“The students are not on campus at this time,” Olson said. “We take matters like this very seriously.”

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This afternoon at approximately 2:45 p.m., the D.C. Fire Department responded to a fire on the exterior of the 1789 bakery on 36th Street.

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At approximately 10 p.m. this evening, the D.C. Fire Department responded to a 911 call on the 1700 block of 37th Street.

According to DCFD Chief Larry Jackson, the source of the fire was likely a faulty microwave.

“We experienced light smoke that extended to the area surrounding the microwave,” Jackson said.

Four fire engines engine companies and two ladder trucks responded to the scene, in addition to at least one DCFD ambulance. After entering 1720 37th Street through the front door of the house, the firefighters extended ladders onto the roof of the building to check for additional smoke and fire damage. Firefighters quickly contained the smoke and fire.

Jackson added that no resident or firefighter was injured.

“No injuries, none of that,” he said. “But with these kinds of calls, better safe than sorry.”

The owners of the house, who were at the scene, declined to comment.

UPDATE: According to DCFD official, fire burned up the wall behind the microwave, but did not seriously damage the rest of the house.

Additional reporting by Molly Redden

Photo: Brendan Baumgardner

Fire, the specter that has haunted Georgetown’s campus all year, broke out this weekend at the house of George Washington University sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma. In a rare turn of events, however, there actually was a fire this time.

Figures. Of course another D.C. school would try to show us up.

Deputy Fire Chief Timothy Gerhart told GWU’s The Hatchet that the fire started in one room of the house. Papers and books caught fire, but the flame was so small that the overheard sprinklers were not triggered. Firefighters threw the burning materials from the room through a broken window and quickly contained the fire.

As of now it is uncertain what caused the fire, but the remaining occupant of the room, who will stay with friends for the remainder of the year, claimed not to be home at the time it started. (However, some gossips on Twitter were quick to theorize about its cause.)

D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Pete Piringer reported that the damage could cost up to a few thousand dollars, an estimate that includes a broken window, water damage, and fire damage. Sounds familiar …

Photo by the GW Hatchet.

Georgetown might want to seriously consider building a firehouse on-campus because the DC Fire Department paid yet another visit to the University today. At approximately 2:25 p.m., DC Fire and EMS responded to a smoke alarm on the second floor of Village C East.  After the DCFD showed up with approximately ten vehicles in tow, it was discovered that there was in fact no fire.

Sergeant Nate Blackmon of the DCFD stated that there was “no danger” to anyone in Village C.  He said that a call came in, allegedly reporting smoke in the Village C basement.

Dino Davis, a supervisor for Midwest Machinery Company, told Vox that he and his crew were working in the basement of Village C East at the time the DCFD arrived on-campus. “We were just working cutting a chiller, just normal demolition work,” Davis said.

Davis also claimed that DCFD had granted approval to the Midwest Machinery Company for the construction work.  He added that he and his crew did not see anything out of the usual during the construction work. Although Davis was not aware what had happened when the DCFD showed up, he suggested that someone upstairs must have called in a report of smoke.

All things considered, Vox commends whoever called in the smoke alert. After all, we’ve had more than our fair share of fires on-campus this year.

Photo by Geoffrey Bible