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Campus and Dorm Fire Safety Tips

Educating students living in dorms or in apartments about what they can do to stay safe during the school year is important and often overlooked. Fires in dormitories are more common from 5-11 pm and on weekends. Roughly six out of seven fires in dormitories are started by cooking.

  • Look for fully sprinklered housing.
  • Make sure there are smoke alarms inside each bedroom, outside every sleeping area and on each level. For the best protection, all smoke alarms should be interconnected so that when one sounds they all sound.
  • Test all smoke alarms at least monthly.
  • Never remove batteries or disable the alarm.
  • Learn your building’s evacuation plan and practice all drills as if they were the real thing.
  • If you live off campus, have a fire escape plan with two ways out of every room.
  • When the smoke alarm or fire alarm sounds, get out of the building quickly and stay out.
  • During a power outage, use a flashlight not candles.
  • Cook only where it is permitted.
  • Stay in the kitchen when cooking.
  • Cook only when you are alert, not sleepy or drowsy from medicine or alcohol.
  • Check with your local fire department for any restrictions before using a barbeque grill or portable fire pit.
  • Check your school’s rules before using electrical cooking/heating appliances in your room.
  • Use a surge protector for your computer and plug the protector directly into an outlet.

Source: National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 2017

created Aug 31, 2017 updated Dec 19, 2017