Almost 100 dead in campus related fires since 2000

It's the blaring siren that sounds in the middle of a lazy Sunday afternoon and forces you into the bitter Boston winter. It's the resident director declaring that decorative lighting can only be displayed from October to December.

With a strict fire safety policy come these small inconveniences that make many students grumble. Many complain that the administration's rules concerning fire hazards are stringent and arbitrary.

These students may want to rethink their flippant attitudes toward what is shaping up to be quite a serious situation. A recent investigation conducted by Fire Chief magazine and Campus Firewatch has revealed almost 100 campus -related fire deaths across the country since 2000.

If one reviews newspaper headlines from recent years, the prevalence of fires on and around university campuses can be shocking. College students, and those around the Boston area in particular, were jarred most recently by the Feb. 24 incident at Boston University that left two students dead and 30 other people displaced from their homes. The cause of the fatal blaze? A candle.

The Boston University fire is not an isolated incident. According to Fire Chief, college fires are often caused by a cocktail of four factors: a lack of automatic fire sprinklers, missing or disabled smoke alarms, careless disposal of smoking materials, and impaired judgment from alcohol consumption. These behaviors are extremely typical of the average 18- to 22-year old student.

It is this fact that gives students perspective. While it may seem unreasonable or excessively cautious not to allow candles in residence halls, the startling increase in campus fires in university fires in recent years has proven that such policies are absolutely necessary.

Fortunately, Boston College has been recognized for its outstanding policies regarding fire safety.

Princeton Review's The Best 361 Colleges: The Smart Student's Guide to Colleges gave BC a top score of 99 in the fire safety category.

Scores for other schools fell as low as 60, and averaged 85. This total represents not only how well BC responds to fires, but how successful it is at preventing them.

This success can be credited to the comprehensive program in place at BC to work towards preventing fires and banning materials that could start them.

The Residential Life Fire Safety Committee, comprised of members from environmental health and safety, facilities services, student affairs, and the BC Police Department, looks at current issues that have arisen concerning fire safety as well as ones that may appear in the future.

"We review trend data and try to make changes to existing policies" said Keith Kidd, director for environmental health and safety.

Such issues range from the decision to ban smoking in University housing to analyzing and attempting to prevent fires started with malicious intent.

BC's current policy regarding fire safety also stem from the Residential Life Fire and Safety Committee.

This policy includes such sanctions as mandatory health and safety inspections, resident assistant and resident director inspections, fire alarms, fire extinguishers, and prohibitions on such items as space heaters, heated blankets, foam egg crate mattresses, and two-pronged extension cords.

The banning of such materials was never intended to frustrate or inconvenience students, although many see them as such.

"I hope people take these messages because they don't understand why our policies are they way they are. When incidents like [the fire at BU] occur, it drives home some of the understanding. It reinforces why our programs are the way they are," said Kidd.

Another alarming aspect of the Campus Fire study is the fact that a large portion of university fires occur in off-campus or Greek housing.

This is due to the fact that it is difficult and at times impossible for universities to regulate fire safety in such residences.

This is not to say that they don't try.

In light of the fact that the Boston University fire occurred in an off-campus apartment, concerns have been raised pertaining to the safety of the apartments and homes typically occupied by BC students.

Kidd, commenting on this fact, said "The reslife safety committee has looked at some of the safety concerns with regard to off-campus housing."

Fire safety officer Donald Wood was unable to be reached concerning this issue at press time.

There are steps students can take on their own toward preventing untimely death by fire, the first of which is merely ensuring that their residences are equipped with the proper fire safety devices such as an automatic sprinkler system, interconnected smoke alarms, and fire extinguishers.

Students should also take other basic steps such as being careful when discarding cigarette butts and not overloading extension cords.

What happened at Boston University as well as Campus Fire's recent study should open students' eyes to the seriousness of the issue of fire safety. These policies may be inconvenient, but, if adhered to, can save lives.