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College Fires and Staying Safe
By Delores Gempel Lekowski
Author of The Hurting Angels
Parents work hard so that they can offer their children the best education
money can buy. Children work equally hard in an attempt to better themselves
through a good education that will enable them to achieve a financially
rewarding life. In fact, going to college is an important step toward financial
freedom and establishing a sound footing into adulthood. I am sure we all agree
how important a college education is to our young adults. After all, they are
our future.
It takes a lot of hard work and energy to raise our children and get them off
to college. Once they are away from home and out on their own, they must then
take responsibility for their own safety. As parents, we need to instill the
importance of fire safety and teach our children to be pro-active in fire
prevention. They must be aware of the dangers and know how to react if something
should go wrong. They need to take these dangers as seriously as they take their
Psychology 101 class, instead of assuming that a fire will never happen to them.
The reality is that fires do occur at colleges, and too many bright young adults
have lost their lives as a result of fires in dorms and off campus housing.
While colleges and universities are taking steps to ensure the safety of
students, it is up to the students themselves to take a more active role in
their personal safety.
Some students were recently interviewed about their concerns about campus
fires and what they would do in the event of a fire. It was shocking to hear how
casual they were about the subject. Several had never thought about it before.
Some said it would never happen, so why should they worry about it? Others said
that the fire alarm goes off so many times that they just ignore it when it goes
off now. It seems that some students think it is funny to set off fire alarms
for no reason, and frequent false alarms encourage other students to ignore
them. Students who pull alarms as a joke should be made aware that it is both
unsafe and criminal to do so, and the behavior can be cause for termination from
college.
Fact: Most fires can be prevented and happen as a result of carelessness.
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A cigarette thoughtlessly discarded in the trash spells tragedy.
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Someone passes out with a lit cigarette and a fire is born. |
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A lit candle in a room with drinking students is a prescription for
disaster. |
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Designate someone who doesn’t drink to monitor house safety. This
person can discard the trash and check to make sure it is not smoldering. This
person can be the one in control to make sure everyone stays safe. |
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Don’t let carelessness end your life at the very beginning of your
adulthood. |
Fact: A fire gets out of control in three minutes and doubles in size every
thirty seconds.
- Just because you are housed in a brick building, don’t think that it won’t burn. The furnishings, curtains, carpeting, bedding, books and everything else in a dorm feeds fire and produces deadly smoke.
- Don’t block exits.
- Don’t overload electrical outlets.
- Routinely check smoke alarm batteries, and never purposely take out the batteries to keep it from going off while you are cooking.
- It would be smart to purchase a fire extinguisher. In fact, this should be the first thing you put in your dorm when you start college.
- Assume every fire alarm is the real thing, because it just might be.
When you hear the alarm:
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GET OUT! Don’t try to save your stuff and don’t make any phone calls to
warn the fire department or friends - JUST MOVE!
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Touch the door with the back of your hand to feel if it is hot.
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If your door feels hot or there is thick smoke in the hallways and you are
too high to jump out of a window, call attention to yourself by waving and
yelling for help to let others know you are trapped.
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Know where the exits are at all times.
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If there is smoke, CRAWL.
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If an alarm is on your way out, pull it, if not, don’t waste valuable time
looking for one.
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Once out of the building, call for help.
Just as parents take an active role in securing a college education for their
children, they also need to take an active role in ensuring their safety while
in college.
Many colleges and universities have installed fire sprinklers while others
haven’t. It is common knowledge that a fire sprinkler system stops fires from
spreading and saves lives. If your child’s dorm or other campus housing does not
have sprinklers installed, voice your concern. When you send your children off
to college, make sure you encourage them to take an active role in their own
fire safety. Arm them with smoke alarm batteries and a fire extinguisher. Ask
questions. Find out what fire preventions the school has in place, what the fire
procedures are and how often students are informed about the procedures.
Off campus housing is not required to follow the same fire safety procedures
as dorms and is not required to install sprinkler systems. Your kids have to be
just as vigilant, maybe more vigilant, in alternative housing as they are in
college dorms. In fact, since off campus housing is not required to install fire
sprinklers or fire alarms, students should take it upon themselves to create
their own escape plan, and if they are on a third floor or higher, they should
consider buying a fire escape ladder.
While we want our children to experience all phases of their new college life
- the good times and challenges, educational growth and new friendships - we
also want them to come home. |
