September is National Campus Fire Safety Month
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 3, 2015) — The University of Kentucky kicks off its annual fire safety campaign during the month of September. Now in its 11th year, September is nationally recognized as National Campus Fire Safety Month for college campuses throughout the country. Fifteen states have issued a proclamation in 2015 recognizing September as National Campus Fire Safety Month, including Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. The Commonwealth is one of only a few states to have issued this proclamation every year since the project’s inception.
Tasked with the responsibility to maintain a fire safe campus at UK, the UK Fire Marshal’s Office actively engages in fire prevention and life safety throughout the year.
“Higher education has lost 126 people in campus-related fires across the nation (Center for Campus Fire Safety) since January 2000,” said Jason Ellis, assistant fire marshal for the University of Kentucky. “September National Campus Fire Safety is the springboard for which our office introduces new fire prevention training and fire safety programs throughout campus in an effort to prevent a fire incident from occurring.”
The UK Fire Marshal’s office conducts fire safety training, evacuation and fire drills, and offers free fire extinguisher training for all UK and community constituents. They are also responsible for fire and life safety inspections for all UK facilities, code enforcement, and plan review for all constructions projects up to $1 million.
Throughout the month of September, the UK Fire Marshal’s Office will conduct several events on campus, including live fire demonstrations using the UK Mobile Burn Trailer, giving out free T-shirts, and providing free fire extinguisher training to all participants.
“We literally build a room to the same specifications of a typical resident hall found on our campus using the same building construction materials and furniture (donated by UK Housing). We introduce a small flame to it and let students watch it develop until it is free burning,” Ellis said. “It shows how quickly a dangerous situation can develop and stresses the importance of reacting immediately and evacuating a building if a smoke detector or fire alarm sounds.
“The room is completely involved in fire in about three minutes, but the smoke produced from the fire makes the room untenable in about one minute. Even with two fire stations on either side of our campus and an average response time in 4-5 minutes, you are looking at a dangerous fire situation if you do not respond and evacuate the building.”
For more information about the UK Fire Marshal's Office schedule of events, upcoming fire drills and classes, and fire safety tips, visit http://ehs.uky.edu/fire, follow on twitter @ukfiremarshal, or contact Jason Ellis at jasomellis@uky.edu and 859-257-6326.