Walking around the halls in yellow T-shirts, a team of professionals trained to watch for fires in the Andrew G. Clark Building’s C wing have replaced the building’s typical fire alarm system until May 2026. The CSU Safety website cited a fire alarm issue and informed students that the Clark Building will be operating at different hours than past semesters.
Fire Watch, although an unusual part of student life, is just one of many standard protocols that have been incorporated in the unusual state of Clark. Nik Olsen, director for crisis communications at CSU, spoke on the incorporation of the Fire Watch team.
“This is a standard protocol activated anytime a building’s fire alarm system is temporarily offline,” Olsen said.
The Fire Watch team has an office in the basement of Clark and is responsible for making regular rounds with megaphones, preparing to evacuate the building in the case of a fire. Jeremie Williams, a member of the Fire Watch team, described his job as a straightforward one: keeping students safe.
“No one can be here on the weekends anymore, too, and that affects the staff a lot because they used to be able to come in if they had to grab something, and they can’t do that anymore. No one can be in the building if they’re not here.” – Sage Hoover, Clark Building receptionist
“We go around each floor and check in, but the smell is the main thing we look for,” Williams said.
Although a large part of William’s job includes walking around and looking for visual signs of a fire, he stressed the importance of using other senses to detect the presence of an emergency. Ryan Claycomb, senior associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and professor of English and theatre, explained that the solution had been developed in conjunction with the Poudre Fire Authority and CSU’s own risk management protocols.
“With our Fire Watch protocol in place, regular business will carry on in Clark C,” Claycomb said. “Classes, labs and faculty and staff offices are open and operating normally. It is important that everyone adheres to the closure hours described in the protocols.”
Since work began on Clark’s renovation project last year, the academic spine of CSU’s campus has faced great changes. For students, the Fire Watch team’s limited hours mean the Clark Building is no longer accessible after 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.
For students like Sage Hoover, a first-year who works as a receptionist on the second floor of Clark, the changing hours have had a great impact on day-to-day life. Because Clark is not safe to enter without the Fire Watch team, people like Hoover are shifting the ways they work.
“No one can be here on the weekends anymore, too, and that affects the staff a lot because they used to be able to come in if they had to grab something, and they can’t do that anymore,” Hoover said. “No one can be in the building if they’re not here.”
Clubs and student organizations like Collegian TV and other projects within the journalism department now must navigate new building hours.
With the renovation of both Clark A and B, Liberal Arts faculty have already faced changes to office and classroom locations. Now all people, students and faculty alike, must be more conscious of when they can and cannot enter Clark.
Some precautions have been taken to mitigate the impact of these changes on students, including signs posted around the Clark building that direct students and staff to a nonemergency phone number. This phone number can be used to retrieve items left in Clark after hours or access the space for any other time-sensitive need.
As for class day-to-day operations, the Fire Watch employees will have little direct impact on CSU students. Walking around the stairwells and hallways and smelling for danger, the Fire Watch team will remain in Clark until May.
Reach Ella Dorpinghaus at news@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
