The failure of fire alarms to go off during a small fire in the bike room of Hurlbut Hall last month has prompted concern among first-year residents.

Although the fire produced smoke which many students could smell on the stairwell,the fire alarms in Hurlbut failed to sound.

"With all the fire drills, it seems ironic that alarms wouldn't go off where there is a fire," Robin S. Goldstein '98 said. "[It] makes me lose my faith in the security system."

But proctors at Hurlbut attempted yesterday to dispel those concerns. Ravi C. Chhatpar '98 said a proctor meeting was held last Wednesday to discuss the fire.

One proctor, who said that he thought the fire was deliberately set, asked students to volunteer information anonymously on possible culprits, Chhatpar said.

Chhatpar also said that the Hurlbut proctors had contacted Superin- tendent of Freshman Dormitories Kathleen A.Bray about the proper functioning of the firealarms.

Michael J. Middleton, assistant dean offreshmen and a resident of Hurlbut, said the firemarshals were notified about the incident andpotential problems with the alarm system.According to Middleton, the fire marshals said thealarms were not triggered because the fireproduced too little smoke.

"A fire marshal did a test and found everythingto be functioning perfectly fine," Middleton said