UK Fire Marshal's Office Honored by Peers

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 19, 2014) — As the University of Kentucky embarked on a major housing revitalization three years ago, the UK Office of the Fire Marshal quickly saw the value of using decommissioned residence halls that had not yet been torn down for firefighter training and campus fire prevention education.  And now the office has been honored for its innovative program.

The UK Office of the Fire Marshal received the 2014 Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association’s (CSHEMA) Perks for Peers Award for the development and implementation of the Fire Safety Community Initiative.  This award promotes interest in and encourages development of innovative programs that improve fire and life safety awareness at colleges and universities. UK was chosen out of more than 160 entries.

The Fire Safety Community Initiative is one of many programs developed and implemented by the UK Fire Marshal to promote fire and life safety and educate the Lexington and campus communities. It provides an exceptional opportunity for local and state emergency responders to train for fire emergencies in a true life situation by using UK's decommissioned buildings to practice real life fire and rescue scenarios.

Typically, fire fighters and emergency responders train using field practice in a controlled setting (such as a classroom tabletop exercise or a designated training structure) for real fire situation.  UK's campus renovation efforts have allowed a unique opportunity for fire fighters to practice true life scenarios using real response, equipment, and an actual building slated for demolition.

“Our decommissioned buildings are used by Lexington fire fighters to conduct real time firefighting operations in actual building settings instead of a control room,” said UK Assistant Fire Marshal Jason Ellis, who accepted the award at recent CSHEMA conference.  “There is no substitute for conducting training using real buildings to directly combat the general unknown situations that a fire fighter will encounter in a real situation.  The University of Kentucky, continuing a long-standing tradition of quality higher education, has had the ability to provide a working classroom for firefighters to directly combat issues that typically arise in a fire situation.” 

Decommissioned buildings are slated for demolition to make room for the new residence halls, classroom buildings, and other facilities.  Once these buildings are decommissioned, some literally become a living lab and classroom in which fire fighters and first responders will train for different incidents, such as search and rescue, fire fighter rescue and survival, pre-planning, and multiple firefighting scenarios and techniques.

“Our office is always concerned with the safety of our stakeholders, which include students, staff, and faculty as well as our neighbors,” Ellis said.  “Fire fighters are and will always be students of their profession.  UK’s commitment to education for all students, including our nontraditional students — emergency responders — is an investment in the safety of our campus.”

CSHEMA supports and educates campus-based environmental, health and safety (EHS) professionals to empower and to improve the EHS profession in campus environments. Originally founded in 1954 as the Campus Safety Association, CSHEMA has a long history of service to the college, university, and research communities.