Campus fire safety

Campus Fire Safety

According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are approximately 17 million students enrolled in campuses across the United States. Approximately 2/3 of the students live off-campus.

Student views towards fire and burn safety

A [http://campus-firewatch.com/resources/student%20views%20of%20burn%20%20fire%20safety.pdf study] was commissioned by the People’s Burn Foundation of Indiana in order to learn more about what college-age students know about burn and fire safety.

Overview

The 2006-2007 academic year has been the most fatal one on record, with 20 campus-related fire deaths identified by [http://campus-firewatch.com/resources/information%20sheet.pdf Campus Firewatch] . All of the deaths have been in off-campus housing except for two, which occurred in fraternities. Off-campus housing is typically a rented house or apartment and, according to the U.S. Department of Education, approximately 2/3 of the students in this country live off-campus.

There are five common factors that have been observed in a number of campus-related fatal fires since January 2000:

• Over 80% of the fires occur in off-campus housing such as rented houses and apartments.

• These occupancies lacked automatic fire sprinklers

• There were missing or disabled smoke alarms

• Careless disposal of smoking materials was a common factor in the fire cause

• Impaired judgment from alcohol consumption played a role

Overview of fatal incidents

From January 2000 to October 16, 2007, 114 people have died in campus-related fires across the United States as reported by [http://www.campus-firewatch.com Campus Firewatch] .

Location of fatal fires

Over 80 percent of these deaths have occurred in off-campus occupancies, such as rented houses and apartments. A compilation of the fatal fires is available [http://www.campus-firewatch.com/resources.html online] .

Common factors in fatal fires

Common factors in a number of these fires include:
* Lack of automatic fire sprinklers
* Missing or disabled smoke alarms
* Careless disposal of smoking materials
* Impaired judgment from alcohol consumption

Impaired judgment from alcohol consumption

There are a number of contributing factors impacting student drinking. In the report [http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/NIAAACollegeMaterials/TaskForce/TaskForce_TOC.aspx “A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges”] published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, these factors include:

*Living arrangements, where drinking is highest in fraternities and sororities followed by residence halls and then by off-campus housing.
*Colleges with drinking problems include those where the Greek systems dominate and where the athletic teams are prominent:
*First year students
*Males
*Whites

Drinking and fire safety

There have been some documents and studies published to provide a linkage between alcohol consumption and its role in fire fatalities that are widely cited.

Some of the more current data comes from the [http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=427&itemID=18434&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20reports/Victim%20patterns&cookie%5Ftest=1 NFPA] which reports that from 1999 to 2002, an estimated 10 percent of the fatalities in fires were impaired by alcohol. However, since there are different reporting requirements regarding the BAC of victims, this data may vary from state to state, making a national comparison difficult.

Protect in Place

In a number of incidents investigated by NRC and the National Fire Protection Association, many of the victims were found in stairways and corridors, while those that stayed in their rooms survived the fire. Not only did the victims die while trying to evacuate, a number of them also died in locations remote from the fire.

The arguments that Proulx makes for the protect-in-place approach in her study include:

• The long time delay to start evacuation after perceiving the fire alarm signal, noticing fire cues or receiving a warning. • The travel distance to reach ground level could be very long for occupants of the upper floors.• People with mobility limitations are occupying high-rise building, they cannot be expected to evacuate by themselves.• During fires the means of egress tend to become contaminated with gas and smoke.

Training

Training is where the most significant change in people’s behavior can be made before a fire, according to Proulx. “This is one of the key elements where we can work proactively before something takes place. We can put all of the nice systems in the place to discover and control the fire, but if you don’t train people they may very well do responses that will endanger themselves.”

Automatic Fire Sprinklers

[http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/media/quick_response/ffwf-2.shtm Automatic fire sprinklers] for residential occupancies are designed as life-safety devices. When the temperature in a room reaches a pre-determined level, a fusible link on a sprinkler melts, allowing water to discharge from the sprinkler onto the fire. Often, a fire is controlled or extinguished by the operation of only one or two sprinklers.

Smoke Alarms

Smoke alarms are single-station, stand alone devices that both sense smoke and sound an alarm, all within the same unit and are found in homes. They are commonly (and incorrectly) referred to as "smoke detectors." A smoke detector is a device that senses smoke, but does not sound an alarm. It transmits a signal to a building's fire alarm system which, in turn activates audible and visual alarms.

Smoke alarms have been extremely effective in reducing the loss of life.

Resources

* [http://www.campus-firewatch.com Campus Firewatch]
* [http://www.campusfire.org Center for Campus Fire Safety]
* [http://www.firemarshals.org National Association of State Fire Marshals]
* [http://www.nfsa.org National Fire Sprinkler Association]
* [http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/citizens/college/index.shtm U.S. Fire Administration]