A water leak that shorted out the alarm system in 575 Commonwealth Ave., or the HoJo, set off a fire alarm that pushed students to the street Wednesday night, Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said Thursday.
A pipe leaked water into a fire alarm system that was in the process of being installed in the residence and caused the alarm to sound, he said.
"It's being fixed now and everything should be fine," Riley said.
Office of Residence Life Assistant Director Dwight Atherton said BU plumbers suspect the "insignificant" leak came from a study lounge bathroom on the eighth floor of the HoJo. He said the leak caused no damage to the building.
But School of Management freshman Monica Irani said she returned to her sixth-floor HoJo room at 9 p.m. to find chunks of plaster from one corner of the ceiling on the floor. The fallen plaster surrounded a water spot she said had been expanding since September.
Irani and her roommates said they do not know if the water-saturated plaster fell because of water from the fire alarm leak, but they said some kind of leak was causing the problem.
CAS sophomore Alina Pesenson, Irani's roommate, said the two are frustrated the water spot had not been repaired during the time they have lived there.
"They're irresponsible about it because we have sent in complaints and they've just chosen to ignore them," she said.
Atherton said Buildings & Grounds workers are scheduled to repair the problem today. There is no connection between the plaster incident and the fire alarm leak, he said.
A manager at Abbot Restoration Company in Boston said a plaster repair would not prevent the plaster from falling again if the water is coming from outside or if there is an active leak in the building.
"It's masking the problem," he said. "It's not repairing it."
Atherton said though there have been leaks in the HoJo in the past, there are currently no active leaks in the building.
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