They were testing the fire alarms, which meant going into every room and setting the sensor off. I got fed up with the incessant noise and jokingly draped a tea towel over one of the alarms in the kitchen. It had no affect on the noise, and I went to my lecture. The fire alarm guy saw it and took a picture of it, so the accommodations office fined me for endangering the lives of the people in my flat.
They didn't take any notice of my appeal, which pointed out such things as
a) It was a test, we knew it was a test because they told us. So we knew that the fire alarm isn't going off because of a real fire and therefore there's no danger.
b) It made no difference to the noise of the particular alarm.
c) There is a fire alarm in every room, every hallway and every kitchen in the entire building, one less fire alarm and you can still hear all the others.