Anyone who frequents the Taggart Student Center is no stranger to the fire alarm system – the loud wailing of the alarm, the flashing lights and people strolling outside at their leisure.

In elementary school, fire drills are a bigger deal. Kids hear the bell and bolt. Teachers have to remind their students not to run for their own safety. Every elementary student knows exactly what to do during a fire drill. Teachers would have a designated spot for their students to meet and they take roll to make sure everyone made it outside. Things were chaotic yet organized.

How did we regress from elementary school?

Take a walk outside the TSC during a fire alarm. No one has any idea what is going on or where to stand. They look like sheep.

Students express frustration at having to drop their activities and leave the building when the alarm goes off, but they need to remember the TSC has an alarm system and fire drills for a reason.

The TSC alarm is not just used for fires. If some maniac rampages through the building shooting people, the alarm would sound in an effort to get everyone out of the building as fast as possible.

If a harmful gas was leaked into the ventilation system and was being spread throughout the TSC, the alarm would also be set off. Cases such as these are when USU students’ lack of treating the alarm seriously becomes dangerous. If students took their sweet time getting out of the building or decided to ignore the alarm altogether and there was gas polluting the air, their lives could be at risk.

The moral of the story is that while running wildly from the TSC after every fire alarm yelling,”Everyone get out,” isn’t probably the best reaction, remember to take the alarms seriously. Just because the dangers aren’t visible doesn’t mean they’re not there.