Having set off the fire alarms twice while trying to cook in my Rowan Boulevard apartment, I began to ask other residents how they try to avoid triggering those extremely sensitive detectors. Public Safety and resident assistants will tell you to just open your windows and turn on the fan above your stove—but we, as residents, all realize that those sometimes are not nearly enough! Here is how some students try to prevent fire alarms while cooking:
Along with using those weak stove fans, you may want to try utilizing a separate desk fan.
Place the fan on the counter next to your stove and face it toward the window to increase air circulation.
Though your windows may be open, air may not be flowing well enough throughout the room. Prop your apartment door open to create a cross-breeze that could help dilute any steam or smoke in the air – both steam and smoke will set off those smoke alarms.
If your fire alarm still goes off after all of this, and nothing is actually on fire or burning profusely, bring the pot or pan toward the window or even into your bathroom where there are no smoke sensors. If the alarm continues and spreads to the rest of the building, don’t fret—it happens to the best of us. However, after 127 fire alarms, maybe we all could use a pointer or two.
Story by: Jess Patterson, Boonton, NJ (Morris County)
sophomore public relations major