Fire alarm at this downtown Phoenix high-rise goes off nearly every day, neighbors say

The fire alarm in a downtown Phoenix high-rise building has sounded every day for weeks, neighbors say.

The Ray Apartments Phoenix, a 26-story residential building under construction in downtown Phoenix, has had the fire alarm activated multiple times over the last two to three weeks.

Witnesses describe the alarm as loud, with flashing lights and followed by a message. The alarm lasts for several hours, according to witnesses.

“It makes this like ‘woop woop.' And then it goes, ‘a fire alarm has been reported in the building’ and it repeats that twice,” said Tyler Braunschweig, a resident of a neighboring building. “And then it [expletive] beeps like four or four times, I don't know. And then it just repeats for like, it could be hours. It's been like two or three weeks.”

Braunschweig said the alarm is loud and obnoxious even from the inside of his apartment.

“It's like usually at least once a day,” Braunschweig said. “I've heard it during the middle of the day because I work from home.”

Braunschweig said he has heard similar complaints from friends and neighbors, and he mentioned a Reddit thread complaining about the alarm.

In the thread posted on Reddit to r/AskPhoenix and r/Apartmentliving, a user asked for advice on what to do about “these alarms."

The poster said they live in a building across the street from the Ray Apartments, hearing the fire alarms go off every day starting at 5 a.m. and lasting for a few hours.

In a statement, the Phoenix Fire Department confirmed the building has experienced several alarm activations, and the department has responded to some of those incidents. Between Feb. 22 and April 2, Phoenix Fire responded to the address eight times.

Phoenix Fire said they did not respond in most cases because the alarm was triggered by system testing or troubleshooting by the contractor.

Located at 777 N. Central Avenue, between Pierce and McKinley streets, the building features a green exterior and 401 housing units. The building was developed by Ray Community and VeLa Development Partners. The general contractor is Clayco.

Chris Herbst said he walks by Ray Phoenix 10 times a week on his way to and from work. Over the last couple of weeks, the fire alarm was going off persistently and loudly several times he walked by.

“I'm only passing the building. It takes me, you know, a minute or two to, but I also, I noticed that this doesn't seem to be like a real sense of urgency to, like, turn the alarm off,” Herbst said. “And it's not like the building is empty. There's always people in the building, near the building, and on the building.”

Herbst said he can imagine it can be quite annoying for those living and working nearby.

“It actually starts the alarm with three, uh, huge noise and it follows by a message,” said Ali Samieadel, a resident who lives nearby. “The message is not completely legible to me, but, I always hear it and it's pretty annoying.”

Samieadel said he has noise isolation windows, but he can still hear the alarm in his apartment. He said the three big alarms are the worst part.

Phoenix Fire said no fines are being issued at this time. Typically, fines are only issued when there is a lack of effort to maintain or repair the fire alarm system, and the building is under active construction.

“Fire alarm testing has been underway at Ray Phoenix as part of the required City and Fire Department inspection process ahead of opening. These tests are now complete, and everything has been confirmed safe and fully operational,” a spokesperson for Ray Phoenix said in a statement. “We are excited to welcome first move-ins in the coming weeks, and express our sincere apologies for any disturbances this essential safety work may have caused to our neighbors.”

The Ray Phoenix does not yet have any residents. The building has scheduled a grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 14.