By Emily Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief
The fire alarms went off numerous times on Yeshiva University’s Beren campus during the fall 2024 semester, with multiple instances of small fires and building evacuations occurring. The YU Observer spoke with multiple students about all the incidents, and the findings have raised significant concerns about fire safety on campus.
Fire Safety in the 251 Dorm Building
On Sept. 11, a “small oven fire” occurred in an apartment of the 251 Lexington Avenue building, as described by an email sent to students by the Beren Resident Life Team.
“Thankfully no one was hurt, and there was no significant damage,” the email said, noting that the NY Fire Department (FDNY) and Con Edison, an energy delivery system utilized by YU, arrived at the scene as students were “safely evacuated” from their dorms until the “all-clear” was given.
The student that lives in the apartment where the fire took place, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the YU Observer that following the fire, she was moved by housing to a different dorm until September 25 because of “the fire extinguisher dust and smoke dust.” She also told the YU Observer that her old, broken oven was sitting in her dorm until she was given a replacement.
This incident raised concerns among some students who live in the 251 building about the safety of the dorm.
Past Incidents in 251
Gillian Herszage (SSSB ‘24) and Naomi Klinghoffer (SCW ‘25), two students who lived in the 251 dorm building last year, told the YU Observer that last Sept., the smoke detector in their dorm room started beeping because it was broken, and security came and took it down. However, according to both of them, no one ever came back to replace it, and there was no working smoke detector in their room for the remainder of the year.
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Miriam Mizrachy (SCW ’24) told the YU Observer that last year, on Apr. 18, there was a fire in her apartment in 251 (251 has 5 floors). She was not at the scene when the fire started, but got there as firefighters were responding to the incident, and was briefed by one of the firemen and security on the scene.
She said a security guard told her they went into her dorm room to put out the flames before calling the fire department. Her entire kitchen and oven was burnt as a result of the fire, and when the FDNY came, they took the stove outside.
Mizrachy said that she and her roommates had not used the stove for days when the fire took place. They were told the damage to their kitchen would be fixed over break, but when they came back after Pesach, there was still rubble all over the room. She noted that housing put a plastic sheet over the damaged area.
Mizrachy also told the YU Observer that initially there was no smoke detector installed in her room. This was why the fire alarm did not go off in her room when the fire occurred, Mizrachy said. According to her, the fire alarm only went off once her door was opened by a security guard and the smoke traveled outside her dorm.
“I don’t think the building itself is safe,” Mizrachy told the YU Observer. She added that when the fire alarm did go off, people did not take it seriously and did not leave the building. She said the evacuation felt “disorganized and dangerous,” and that “the building was not evacuated well at all.” She added, “God forbid, if it was even a bigger fire that spread, I have no idea how they would handle it.” She also said that students wrote on the dorm WhatApp chat that they were not leaving the building.
Alayna Higdon (SCW ‘24) told the YU Observer that she was also a resident of the apartment in which the fire took place, but was not there when the incident occurred. She confirmed that her room did not have a working smoke detector and said one was only put in after the fire.
Higdon also said she recalled students texting on the dorm group chat asking if the alarm was real and if students really had to leave.
Herszage, who was in 251 at the time of the fire, told the YU Observer that she heard the alarm go off after she already smelled a lot of smoke. She also said that students were asking in WhatsApp chats if they should leave the building.
245 Gas Leak
On Sept. 29, Beren students received a message at 10:13 PM in the Beren Resident Life community WhatsApp chat. “Please evacuate 245 Lexington right now,” it read. “There is a strong gas smell and fire fighters coming now.” Another message, sent 14 minutes later, read, “To reiterate, if you are in the building evacuate immediately there are multiple major gas leaks and it’s not safe to be in the building.”
A YU security guard on the scene of 245 that night told the YU Observer that an oven had been left on in the building’s cafeteria, causing gas to spread throughout the basement. He stated that a maintenance worker smelled the smoke and called security, who called the FDNY, and firemen arrived at the scene.
The YU Observer was denied entry into the building by the Graduate Advisors (GAs), Shoshana and Yaelle, who declined to give their last names, because of the “large” gas leak.
At 1:20 AM that night, students received a message to the WhatsApp community. “The Fire Department was called earlier this evening due to concern about the smell of gas in 245 Lexington, warranting all students to be asked to exit the building. The residents in the 251 Lexington Residence were asked to exit their building as an added precaution as well, although their apartments were unaffected.”
The message continued, “The source of the leak was found in the back of the food services basement kitchen area and the gas source was turned off. FDNY and Con Edison investigated the issue, and after a full evaluation, they both issued an all clear to return the building to normal use.” The message added that classes would be held as normal in the building the next day.
Rachel Amar (SCW ‘26) was in the 245 building when students were told to evacuate and told the YU Observer that no alarms or announcements went off in the building that night making students aware that they should leave. She only knew to exit the building because of the message sent to students on WhatsApp.
She said at first she read the message and thought it was about a different building. According to her, as she left 245, she saw firefighters “slowly walking in” to the building. She also said that she “did not feel particularly unsafe.”
“It did not seem that YU was very communicative about what was happening during the situation itself,” she said. “There was nothing happening during the situation itself to reassure all the residents.”
Another student (SCW ‘25), who asked to remain anonymous, was in 245 that night as well, and she also told the YU Observer that no alarms went off in the building.
Students who commute to the Beren campus, including Dalya Franklin (SCW ‘25), who is a photographer for the YU Observer, and Shanee Marciano (SSSB ‘25), confirmed for the YU Observer that they are not a part of the Beren Resident Life WhatsApp chain and did not receive any of the messages informing students to evacuate the 245 building. In light of the fact that no fire alarms or announcements went off in 245 that night, any students who commute to the Beren campus and could have potentially been in the 245 building would not have received any formal communication from YU about the need to exit the building.
Dana Levy (SCW ‘25) was in the 251 dorm building that evening, and told the YU Observer that the alarms did not go off. She said she only knew to evacuate the building because of a message sent by a Resident Advisor to a group chat and because she heard someone screaming in the hall that there was a fire and students needed to evacuate.
Another student (SCW ‘26), who asked that her name not be included in publication, told the YU Observer that she was in 251 that night and did not hear any alarms. She said that she and her friend, who is an RA, shouted up the stairs to inform everyone that they had to evacuate.
Esther Nahon (SCW ‘25), who is an opinions editor for the YU Observer, also told the YU Observer that she was in 251 that night, no alarms went off and no announcements were made over the intercom to inform students to leave. She only knew to evacuate because someone banged on the door of her room and the RA “screamed” in the hallway, “Everybody get out. There’s a fire. This is not a drill.”
“Definitely not everyone came out” of the building, Nahon added.
245 Propane Leak
On Dec. 10, students had to evacuate the 245 building because of a propane leak. Talya Naggar (SCW ‘27) told the YU Observer that “the whole staircase was smoking” and that it was “very visible.” She said that students knew to leave the building because people shouted for students to come down, and that there was no fire alarm.
Ashley Gardner (SCW ‘27) told the YU Observer that she was in class that day when she was told by her professor that they had to leave the building because of a propane leak. “There were no alarms, just a weird smell and the only reason we left the building is because we got dismissed from class,” she said.
“I don’t really think YU handled it so well; they made no indication of an emergency until we got an email several days later,” she added. “This unfortunately isn’t the first time it’s happened this school year and if it’s a dangerous gas we could have no clue we’re inhaling it until we get some sort of physical reaction.”
An email was sent to students six days later about the incident. It stated that at around 4:00 PM, a gas smell, caused by a propane gas valve that was left partially open in a laboratory, was reported to security. The email added that as the valve was secured, the windows were opened to help dispel the gas.
“An assessment of the situation determined that there was no further leakage and that the building was safe to occupy,” the email stated. “As we move forward, the Security, Facilities and Safety teams will continue to review and improve safety and communication protocols.”
Brookdale Fire Alarms
“The fire alarm went off in Brookdale three separate times [one] night this week,” stated an email sent to YU students on Sept. 27 by the Beren Resident Life team. “All of these instances were minor and managed promptly.”
The email did not provide any further information about the instances, including if there were any fires at all, and if so, their nature. The email failed to elaborate on if the FDNY arrived at the scene or if students were evacuated from their dorms.
The email went on to emphasize that “given these occurrences,” students should “review the permitted appliance list and prohibited items list” as well as the “general kitchen safety guidelines,” and immediately evacuate buildings in response to fire alarms.
Tali Pak (SCW ‘26), who lives in the apartment where one of the fires occurred, told the YU Observer that “something got stuck to the burner and started smoking and set off the smoke detector in our room.”
Pak noted that she felt YU security handled the fire in the proper manner. “I think they really cared about our safety. They were at our room in a couple of minutes,” she said. Pak added that the security guard who came to her dorm filed a report “but she also asked us questions making sure we were okay and she helped move furniture to open the windows.”
Shalva Englander (SCW ‘25), a Resident Advisor in the Brookdale Dorms, confirmed for the YU Observer that the instances took place on Sept. 25.
Englander also said that she “definitely noticed” that “a lot of people did not leave right away.” She added that her roommates did not wake up from the alarm and did not know that the incident happened until the next morning. She also said that she has heard of multiple other incidents where students had to be woken up by others because they did not hear the alarms.
“I found a bunch of my residents out in the hallway,” she continued, adding that “none of them actually physically went downstairs.”
“And that was only the ones who came out of their rooms,” she further said, reiterating that her roommates were still fast asleep in her room. “I should have gone down, but I also lingered until I got more information before leaving.”
Englander said that while RAs texted on the dorm’s WhatsApp chat to inform residents about what was going on, it has “always been a thing” that students text on chats and some do not leave the building right away or consider the incidents actually “serious” unless they are informed by their peers over message that it is so. She added that because of this texting culture, students consider most fire alarms a drill and think that if a more serious incident occurs they will know to leave.
“Some more direction immediately from authoritative figures could have made the situation a bit less stressful and made people a bit more proactive,” she said. “I think it’s something that we all need to work on, with this sense of self-preservation that seems to be lacking in our generation.”
35th Street Dorm Building Fire Alarms
At 6:55 PM on a Saturday night this year, the YU Observer was on the scene of the 35th Street dorm building when the fire alarm went off. Just as the alarm was turned off, a student was seen leaving the elevator of the building with her suitcase, and about seven minutes after the alarm started going off, students were still seen exiting the dorm.
On Monday Dec. 16, the fire alarm went off in the 35th building again, and students on the dorm’s WhatsApp chat were seen asking if the fire alarm was real. After the incident, the GA updated the group stating that the fire was contained, but could have been a lot worse, and encouraged students to leave the building whenever the fire alarm goes off.
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YU security has failed to respond to multiple requests for comment by the YU Observer beginning on Oct. 23, 2024. YU security also declined to give the YU Observer a comment on the scene of the 245 gas leak on Sept. 29, 2024.
Photo Caption: Fire trucks outside 245 the night of the Sept. 29 gas leak
Photo Credit: The YU Observer