It is the Thursday before winter break. You hear a heavy rain tap on the windows. You head to your D-block class, sit down and begin to take an exam. Ten minutes in, an uproarious alarm causes everyone to look up from their exam. Disoriented, you walk towards the emergency exit, prepared to stand outside in the pouring rain.

This was the case for one of the many false fire alarms responded to during the 2022-23 school year. Initially a minor inconvenience to the school community, the repetition has a cost for students, staff, administrators and the Brookline Fire Department.

But how serious is pulling a false alarm?

According to the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, under Part IV Title I Chapter 269, “Whoever, without reasonable cause, by outcry or the ringing of bells, or otherwise, makes or circulates or causes to be made or circulated a false alarm of fire shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than one year.”

These consequences are similar to those listed in the high school’s handbook. Rule 2.7, titled “No Bomb Scares or Triggering False Fire Alarms,” states that “setting off false fire alarms and inciting bomb scares are serious offenses” that will result in a “report filed in the administrator’s office” and a “disciplinary hearing with the Head of School, the student’s administrator, the student and his/her parent or guardian.”

Head of School Anthony Meyer said a student who pulls a false alarm can face other consequences beyond the designated disciplinary action.

“There are many [other] potential consequences listed in the Handbook: a minimum three-day suspension, loss of open campus for two semesters and potential expulsion from school,” Meyer said.

Lieutenant Matthew Shatkin of the Brookline Fire Department said there could be more town involvement with the false alarms, depending on how severe the situation becomes.

“If this continues to be an unresolved issue, then the town’s fire and police departments may both become involved,” Shatkin said.

False fire alarms have not only been an issue for the administration and fire department. For science teacher Wen Sailer, one of her biology classes was taking an exam when the most recent fire alarm on Thursday Dec. 22, 2022, was set off, leaving her to decide what to do with the exam moving forward.

“Every time it happens, it sets classes back, especially if we are in the middle of an assessment. There’s a lot of last-minute decision-making about how to deal with the sudden interruption,” Sailer said. “What we ended up doing was I had [students] rip off most of the test (to ensure that students didn’t look at the questions in advance), and then take it page by page. What was supposed to happen in one period ended up stretching across two days, which is not ideal because students are ready to show what they know during the scheduled time.”

According to junior Matthew Nguyen, the constant interruptions of school due to the false alarms have been a disruption for students.

“It was annoying. For a while, [the false fire alarms] became a pattern. Every time it happened, we had to go outside and wait for the fire department to come,” Nguyen said.

Sailer said that she thinks there is a misconception around false fire alarm drills being a positive occurrence among most students. She said that they are harmful and a hassle to the school community.

“Not every student finds it to be a good thing. What I think is that some students might think, ‘Oh everyone’s happy that we’re getting out of class,’ but in reality, it’s so disruptive and harmful in ways that whoever’s pulling the alarm is not thinking of or is not aware of because both teachers and students are working very hard. It’s just not considerate of the community when you do such a thing,” Sailer said.

Meyer said that these false alarms will hinder the school community from knowing how to act during real ones. He said he wishes for students to be transparent about anything they know regarding the false fire alarms.
“When we have incidents like this, town and school resources (people, time) get diverted to a false scenario. It also can cause us to become lackadaisical in responding to fire alarms,” Meyer said. “I encourage students who see something concerning to let a staff member know.”