Stop, drop and ... oh, to hell with it!

Although many of us spent our childhoods hearing Smokey the Bear, firemen and other fire safety spokesmen and mascots, being preached to about the necessity of having a fire escape plan and changing the batteries in our smoke detectors, by the age of 18, much of that early indoctrination has worn off. \nThis attitude is a cause for concern, taking into account the multiple deaths of college students in fires during the past several years. For example, during the first week of classes in the fall of 2004, three fraternity brothers at the University of Mississippi perished in a fire after a party at their house. Two years earlier, in 2002, a similar incident occurred at Michigan Tech. And according to a USA Today study of 43 fires that killed 62 students between 2002 and 2006, in more than half of these incidents, at least one student who died had been drinking.\nNot only do carelessness and alcohol use factor into the susceptibility of college students to fires, but so does the fact that many students live in older houses or buildings, generally constructed out of more flammable materials. Since existence of this deadly combination leaves students particularly vulnerable to housing fires, what responsibility do universities have in communicating fire safety to them? Is there any way to protect those who merely see fire drills as ways of killing class time and smoke detectors as wall decorations?\nObviously, universities can only control fire safety protocols and protections on properties they own. At IU, Residential Programs and Services has a set of fire procedures for both dorms and on-campus apartments. However, off campus, the responsibility to be smart about general living habits falls squarely on the shoulders of the students themselves. It’s up to them to keep exit routes clear, to properly extinguish burning materials, to regularly change the batteries in their smoke detectors and to know how to use fire extinguishers.\nHowever, some colleges have taken it upon themselves to educate their students about fire safety procedures. Temple University, for example, in Philadelphia holds annual Emergency Preparedness Fairs, complete with demonstrations, informational tables and giveaways. The University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass., in response to the abundance of fires in fraternity and sorority houses, held a greek training session that included a smoke corridor, fire extinguisher training and a mockup of a burning student room. \nWhile we commend the good-faith efforts of these institutions in educating their students about fire safety, they seem fairly extreme, and we highly doubt they will produce significant changes in students’ living habits. Still, universities should at least make fire safety information available to their students, as IU does on the RPS Web site. In addition, they should set good examples for students by continuing to emphasize the importance of safety precautions through fire drills. \nAlthough these measures may help the situation, when it comes down to it, to borrow slightly from the ever-lovable Smokey the Bear: Only you can prevent college fires.