Some fire alarms might actually prevent fire fighters from doing their jobs.

Fire alarm pull boxes, the red alarms often encased in glass and found in apartment or rooming house hallways, are frequently abused or misunderstood, said Reuben Nelson, assistant DeKalb fire chief.

“Pull boxes can be a nuisance. People have a few beers and think ‘ha, ha, let’s pull the fire alarm,'” Nelson said. “Doing that can pull fire trucks and resources away from where they’re really needed.”

A prankster used a pull box to sound a false alarm Monday morning at College Square Apartments, 808 Ridge Road, as the real fire alarm rang at Varsity Square Apartments, 1212 Varsity Blvd., Nelson said.

The false alarm rang “almost simultaneously” with the real alarm and a Sycamore fire truck had to be diverted from the actual emergency to check the problem out, he said.

“These alarms would be great if there was never any abuse of them. They give people an extra ounce of warning,” said Bill Nicklas, DeKalb Building and Community Services director.

Another problem with pull box alarms is people often think they sound an alarm at the fire department when all the alarm really does is sound in the apartment building, Nelson said.

“Often they aren’t connected to the fire department, but are loud enough to warn everyone in the building,” Nicklas said.

On Feb. 16, 1990, a rooming house at 355 Augusta Ave. burned down and was later demolished. Nelson said residents did not call the fire department because they rang the pull box alarm.

The residents thought the alarm rang at the DeKalb Fire Department, but it did not. As a result, the fire burned for hours and the tenants lost everything.

Nicklas said he cautions students who have alarm pull boxes in their buildings not to tamper with them and to know whether the box sends an alarm to the fire department or just sounds in the building. Students can ask their building managers to explain what their alarm pull box does, he said.