Bromley Hall experienced a fire drill around 3 a.m. on Friday. The cause has been traced by campus security to the seventh floor, where a sprinkler head was found broken. This caused flooding down to the first floor, mostly affecting rooms located beneath the sprinkler’s path.
Maintenance was present on the seventh floor for cleanup shortly following students’ entry back into the building after the initial fire alarm.
It was reported that three young men were seen in the seventh floor hallway after the incident demonstrating suspicious behavior, though their identities have not yet been confirmed.
An hour after residents settled in, the alarm went off briefly eight additional times while the system was being reset. The building staff’s fire watch was called off at about 5 a.m.
Room damage and flooding were reported on each floor, in varying degrees. Additionally, an office on the first floor sustained ceiling damage, with tiles falling off the ceiling. The first floor conference room was also flooded. Although the seventh floor was hit hard the hardest, the lower rooms suffered ceiling damage in addition to some flooding
Vice President of Student Affairs Kent Smith was contacted through a “phone tree” of staff members, he said, and arrived at Bromley shortly after 4 a.m.
Jenci Randall, a fourth floor resident, was present during the fire alarm.
“I went up to see if the room directly above ours was flooded, to see if (water) would come into our room,” Randall said, adding that her room was dry.
Maintenance staff is expected to clean throughout the day to prepare guest rooms for Moms Weekend.
The case is under investigation by the Ohio University Police Department.
Anyone who has any additional information regarding the incident or those responsible is asked to contact OUPD by calling (740) 593-1911.
Note: Olga Kharitonova is a Bromley resident and reporter for The Post’s campus staff.
-Olga Kharitonova
