Fire safety is a growing problem at colleges across the U.S. “According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), firefighters across the nation respond to an average of 3,810 fires at college residence halls and Greek housing each year,” FireEngineering.com reveals. The fires mimic national, over-arching trends — with the vast majority (70%) starting in kitchen areas and 27% originating from dorm rooms and bedrooms. There is one critical difference, however. Student housing, whether that entails buildings with dozens or even hundreds of dorm rooms or low-cost residential housing, is often ill-equipped for fire prevention. What can parents and students do?
Do Your Part
While it may seem inconvenient and unnecessary to forgo items such as a hotplate or candles, if college documentation explicitly prohibits it, abide by the rules. Encourage friends to do the same. Parents can scan new students’ lists (probably under the guise of helping the students-to-be foot the bill), and make a point not to purchase hazardous items.
Take A Stand
There is one big problems with dorm buildings and low-cost, student housing today: They don’t have adequate fire prevention mechanisms. Many students and parents alike are unaware that this is even a problem. The first step, then, is looking into it and determining how big the problem is at your child’s college or university. Some dorms, for instance, don’t even have sprinklers — and many “higher education institutions are simply not required to notify students and their parents whether student housing facilities are equipped with automatic fire sprinkler systems,” FireEngineering.com continues. Make certain that student housing has sprinkler systems, and — if they don’t — bring it the college board, local area, and other parents’ attention.
Similarly, housing located right on top of the college may be cheap, but these houses are often very old and poorly maintained. What does that mean? It means that they can be fire hazards. Ask questions about residential doors and residential windows. Are these fire rated windows? Are there fire-safe steel windows and doors in the school’s dorm buildings? These questions can help you determine whether nearby houses or buildings on campus are the safest place for your child to live.
College fire safety is a big problem. Stay away from hazardous items, ask colleges about fire prevention measures, and don’t trust outdated residential windows to be safe in an emergency situation. Visit here for more information.