Resnet wiring in HRE, HRS fails city inspection

Many High Rise South and High Rise East residents had to clean out their hallway lockers yesterday because Resnet wiring failed city inspection, said Mike Palladino, the director of network installations, planning and video for Data Communications and Computing Services. City inspectors studied the University's methods of fire-stopping -- the process of filling any holes left after the wiring was installed in the vertical shafts created for Resnet. The shafts -- which were created because the dorms were not originally designed to contain Resnet wiring -- run from the roof to the basement of each building. The fire-stopping material is used to keep fires from spreading through the shaft from floor to floor. "The city inspector who came out checked the approach we used [to fire-stop] and he was unfamiliar with the way in which it was done," Palladino said. Although he said he believes the methods used were up to code, the University decided not to take a risk. "I wouldn't want it on my conscience if there was a fire," he added. "?I'd rather that and everyone be safe than the alternative." And according to Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone, the project could not wait until the summer. For now, students will have to keep their boxes, suitcases and other storage items elsewhere for the few weeks, Palladino said. He added that as of yesterday, over 90 percent of the students involved had complied with the orders to empty their lockers and remove their locks. Certain lockers on each floor block the areas where the wiring is located. On every third floor, beginning with the 23rd, the wiring is encased in a closet. The project costs the University nothing, since the contractors involved in the original wiring agreed to make the changes for the city while absorbing all costs.