Last week, several national safety agencies collaborated on a safety message about college dorm safety. According to collected data, the estimated number of fires in campus housing has noticeably risen in recent years from “a low of 1,800 fires in 1998 to 3,300 fires in 2005”. Also, through 5 years between 2000 and 2005, these fires resulted in 39 deaths and nearly 400 injuries.
Ever since the January 19, 2000 fire in a Seton Hall dormitory that killed 3 students and injured 58 others, the Cherry Hill Fire Department’s Community Education division realized educating college bound Cherry Hill students was a priority. This is the time when most young adults are on their own and responsible for themselves for the first time. Since, the CHFD has made College Dorm Safety a part of its educational offerings to our graduating seniors in all three high schools; along with our Operation Prom Night-Mock Car Crash, and Career Development. The CHFD program focuses on several college campus fire safety messages: recognizing fire risks and leading causes of fire; fire behavior and how detection systems work; planning an evacuation; and how to best survive should a fire strike.
At a joint press conference, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and University of Maryland’s National Fire Academy, urged new and returning college students, parents and school officials to be aware of the fire dangers in their residential housing. “While most fires are cooking related (hot plates, microwaves, portable grills, etc.), the majority of fire deaths occur in sleeping areas. Also, the majority of incidents occurred during evening and weekend hours, obviously when students are in their residences more”.
The NFPA and CPSC put together a list of “College Dorm Fire Safety Tips in their press release”:
Cooking equipment causes 72% of dorm fires. Students should cook in designated areas only, and never leave cooking equipment unattended when in use.
As far as deaths and injuries are concerned, most occur in sleeping areas, and are associated with smoking materials like tobacco products, candles, and incense. Always extinguish flames before leaving the room or going to sleep.
Electrical products, portable heaters, and lighting such as halogen lamps are the source of many dorm fires. Keep combustibles away from heat sources and don’t overload electrical outlets, extension cords, and power strips.
Take special care with holiday and seasonal decorations. Don’t use combustible materials and never block access to safety devices, doors, etc.
Know your building’s evacuation plan in case something does go wrong.
Don’t disable smoke alarms.
Following are a few links for some research into the issue. The Cherry Hill Fire Department also urges those involved to become aware of the problem.
Links:
Here is a link to a story local ABC affiliate, WPVI, carried:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=consumer&id=3446715
This link is to the NFPA’s section on college dorm safety
http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=711&itemID=19560
Here is the original Consumer Product Safety Commission press release;
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07279.html
Underwriter’s Laboratory offers many safety tips:
http://www.ul.com/fallsafety/dormsafety.html
The Cherry Hill Fire Department wants all residents to know that September is “National Preparedness Month”, and we applaud the effort of the Department of Homeland Security's Ready Campaign in encouraging Americans to take an active role in personal and community disaster preparedness.
