Post Classifieds
Fire safety month heats up
By Colleen Young
On October 17, 2012
October is National Fire Prevention Month. Fires and fire alarms have been a reoccurrence in
student housing at Buffalo State. This month is an opportunity for students to get educated on
fire safety and prevention to decrease the amount of evacuations that students have to endure
every year.
David Pawlak of Fire Code Enforcement at Buffalo State said that the number one cause of
alarms in student housing is cooking. He recommended that students should only cook if they
know how, and to not to leave or forget about their food.
When alarms are pulled as a prank in dorms, Pawlak asks students not to do that because every
alarm is treated as if it's a real emergency. If the alarms go off in the student housing buildings,
the Buffalo Fire Department immediately receives notification of an emergency. All three fire
stations that respond to Buffalo State get the call, and whichever station is available will respond.
Whether it's the Forest Avenue House, the Hertel Avenue House, or the Amherst Street House,
every time that one of the stations responds to Buffalo State, the fire fighters have to anticipate
that it's a real fire.
The fire stations that respond to Buffalo State arrive quickly, usually within two minutes at the
most. Pawlak said that the responders are under the impression that it's a real emergency, and the
alarms should only be pulled if it is one.
Brendan O'Hara, a junior at Buffalo State and a dorm resident, said he understands the
seriousness of fire drills, though is discouraged by how many false alarms there are.
"There is a very clear and concise plan for fire drills at Buffalo State," O'Hara said. "The
response time of the fire department and personnel is very quick, which is very important in
case of an actual fire occurring. However, the amount and duration of fire drills while living on
campus can affect time spent studying, which is a major downfall and somewhat of a nuisance."
Pawlak said that not only are false alarms a problem for fire fighters, but they're also unsafe
for students because they become desensitized to the alarms. Students can become so used to
hearing the fire alarms that they'll wonder if it's a real emergency.
Playing with the fire alarms can result in too many false alarms and can cause students to
overthink the real alert those fire alarms represent.
"When you hear that alarm, you need to leave," Pawlak said. "It's worth that five minutes of
your life to be certain."
When the fire alarms sound, students are told to get out of the building quickly, no matter what.
Just like the fire fighters, students need to think that it's a real emergency, too; they don't have
the time to be told it's a real emergency.
Pawlak reminds students that when alarms sound, they shouldn't go out of their way to take
belongings from their room, but should find the nearest exit, remain calm and shouldn't run.
Once out of the building, residents need to be at least 50 feet away from the building to leave
room for other residents to evacuate, as well as leaving a path for emergency personnel to enter
the building without having to get through a crowd.
Heather Hanlon, a senior at Buffalo State and a resident assistant in Porter, said the majority
of students do leave the building when alarms go off. After the first initial fire drill of the year,
Hanlon said that students learn the evacuation process and know where to stand and to get away
from the building.
As a RA, she is mandated to stand outside and make sure that students stand far away from the
building so that police and fire fighters can enter and see the cause of the alarm.
"Students respond well to fire alarms and get out quickly," Hanlon said.
Hanlon said students may be cold or tired, though they understand that the building needs to be
cleared and safe for them to re-enter, with safety being their top priority.
Students cannot go back into the building until they're notified that it's safe and that there isn't a
fire. Pawlak reminds students to let their R.A.s know if there may be someone who's still in the
building and needs help.
For students who become trapped in the building, Pawlak advised to stay low to the ground on
their hands and knees, using the wall as a guide to try to find the nearest exit. If there's no safe
way out, students are told to go back to their rooms and to place a t-shirt or towel along the
bottom of the door, which will block any smoke from entering the room.
The walls in the dorm buildings are fire-safe for one hour. Students left in their rooms are to let
other people know that they're still in there and should use a distress signal out their window so
others know they need to be rescued.
To avoid scary situations like a student being trapped, Powlak said students need to follow
campus rules regarding what can and cannot be used in dorms.
"Everything that we have as a rule or a policy is in place because someone has gotten hurt or
killed in the past," he said. "Every rule we have is because something happened."
Students need to follow rules to ensure a safe living situation, both for themselves and everyone
in the building.
At the beginning of every year, new students and freshmen living on campus are mandated to
attend a fire-prevention class. Pawlak said he also does demonstrations during various fairs at
Buffalo State and once or twice a year during Bengal Pause. The Fire Code Enforcement Office
sets up fire simulations with extinguishers to let students get a first-hand look at fire prevention,
as well as the dangers of fire and how to respond.
Hanlon said she credits the decreased amount of fire alarms she's seen within the past couple of
years to the mandatory fire prevention classes.
"Ever since they started educating the freshmen, the amount of times the alarms went off has
gone down," she said. "Education and prevention have increased dramatically in the past years."
She said she's optimistic about the potentially life-saving effects that the valuable seminars can
have on the residents.
Throughout the rest of Fire Prevention Month, students can attend informational open houses,
hosted by the Buffalo Fire Department at area firehouses. There, students can tour the firehouses,
meet fire fighters and other experts, learn more about fire prevention and safety and get a behind-
the-scenes view of the job of a firefighter.
Upcoming Fire Prevention and Safety open houses are:
-Oct. 22 from 5-6:30pm at Engine 3. (601 Broadway at Monroe.)
-Oct. 22 from 6-7:30pm at Engine 4. (939 Abbott at Hollywood.)
-Oct. 27 from 9-10:30am at Engine 37. (500 Rhode Island at Chenango)
-Oct. 27 from 10-11:30am at Engine 31. (2044 Bailey at Doat.)
-Oct. 27 from 11-12:30am at Engine 23. (3226 Bailey at Hewitt.)
Pawlak wants to remind students who are even living off campus that they have the same
right and opportunity to get help and education from the Fire Code Enforcement office. To
get help or for any further questions regarding fire safety, visit the office's website: http://
www.buffalostate.edu/environmentalhealth/x460.xml.
Colleen Young can be reached by email at young.record@live.com.
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