Fire education still difficult despite deaths
Steven Overly
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: News
Fire prevention has always been among the greatest safety concerns for college administrators, but after millions of dollars spent on sprinkler upgrades and installing fire safety features in housing, educating students about fire risks may remain the hardest part.
It's a strange irony, considering the constant cycle of teaching and learning that takes place here. But even with two fatal fires in off-campus housing during the past two years, officials say efforts at ratcheting up fire safety education have still largely gone unnoticed.
Most students can recall the 2006 death of David Ellis, the WMUC student DJ who died in a Knox Box a semester short of graduation. But few would be able to recall the trailers dragged onto LaPlata Beach and Fraternity Row that simulated smoke-filled rooms and demonstrated sprinkler effectiveness. That's because so few students turned out, said Luisa Ferreira, a university assistant fire marshal.
Other universities burn down makeshift dorm rooms in public areas during fire prevention weeks, but this university scrapped that idea after senior Michael Scrocca died in his off-campus home in a 2005 arson fire just weeks away from graduation. Administrators said the idea seemed rather insensitive, Ferreira said, and it hasn't been revived since.
Ed Comeau, who publishes the electronic newsletter Campus Firewatch, said reaching students about how easily fires can be set is always a challenge because so much information is competing for students' attention. Packaging fire education in a compelling way is key.
"You need to be creative and innovative in what you're doing," Comeau said. "You have to have multiple media, multiple messages to really enforce what the students need to know."
Aside from the two off-campus deaths of students, two non-fatal fires have ripped through buildings near the campus in the past year, and dozens of kitchen fires over the past few years have been extinguished by the College Park Fire Department. That's been an ongoing concern for the city's director of public services, Bob Ryan, whose expertise is fire safety.
It's a strange irony, considering the constant cycle of teaching and learning that takes place here. But even with two fatal fires in off-campus housing during the past two years, officials say efforts at ratcheting up fire safety education have still largely gone unnoticed.
Most students can recall the 2006 death of David Ellis, the WMUC student DJ who died in a Knox Box a semester short of graduation. But few would be able to recall the trailers dragged onto LaPlata Beach and Fraternity Row that simulated smoke-filled rooms and demonstrated sprinkler effectiveness. That's because so few students turned out, said Luisa Ferreira, a university assistant fire marshal.
Other universities burn down makeshift dorm rooms in public areas during fire prevention weeks, but this university scrapped that idea after senior Michael Scrocca died in his off-campus home in a 2005 arson fire just weeks away from graduation. Administrators said the idea seemed rather insensitive, Ferreira said, and it hasn't been revived since.
Ed Comeau, who publishes the electronic newsletter Campus Firewatch, said reaching students about how easily fires can be set is always a challenge because so much information is competing for students' attention. Packaging fire education in a compelling way is key.
"You need to be creative and innovative in what you're doing," Comeau said. "You have to have multiple media, multiple messages to really enforce what the students need to know."
Aside from the two off-campus deaths of students, two non-fatal fires have ripped through buildings near the campus in the past year, and dozens of kitchen fires over the past few years have been extinguished by the College Park Fire Department. That's been an ongoing concern for the city's director of public services, Bob Ryan, whose expertise is fire safety.
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Dustin Blythe
posted 5/13/08 @ 1:14 PM EST
Educating children about fire safety is the most important thing. They are the voice of reminder to their often forgetful parents. Rainbow Valley Fire Education has a very good program in teaching children. (Continued…)
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