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Providing Safe Student Housing

Alarm dealers have the opportunity to capitalize on the growing demand for safe, off-campus student housing. 

With the academic year upon us, inevitable horror stories will unfold, such as the August 13, 2007 fire death at Bradley University. As the occurrence of similar tragedies grows each semester, so to will the demand for safe student housing.

That means NOW is the time to target builders planning renovations or new developments near colleges and universities.

Although student housing – all buildings for that matter – is safer now than 20 years ago, since January 2000, there have been 113 campus-related fire deaths across the country, with 90 percent of them occurring in off-campus and Greek housing, according to Campus Firewatch. These statistics show that there is increased risk to residents of less-regulated private homes or apartments. That’s because, oftentimes, even when smoke detectors are present, the devices are disabled by residents in preparation for large gatherings where smoke may fill the air. A classic example of this took place just off the Amherst campus of University of Massachusetts.

With a monitored fire-alarm system, disabled devices would cause the control panel to complain about the lack of signal. For increased security, intelligent detection devices have the ability to continuously sample the air and adjust detection parameters and alarm thresholds accordingly – without user intervention.

With either technology installed, the control panel would bring attention to the compromised detector and the landlord would be contacted to address the situation – hopefully before tragedy results.


Illinois Fire Marshal Pushes Campus Safety with “LOOK UP” Campaign

To kick off the 2007/8 academic year, the Illinois State Fire Marshal launched its “LOOK UP!” campus fire safety campaign at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Safety posters being offered to all colleges to encourage students to “look up” and make sure they have working smoke alarms in living quarters.

State Fire Marshal Dave Foreman said the campaign is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of working smoke alarms in both on- and off-campus housing. Foreman joined staff and students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus Wednesday to begin putting up the safety posters around the campus.

“For many young adults, college is the first time they are living on their own. As they return to campus for the fall semester, there’s so much to think about – getting books, finding classrooms, meeting up with friends. We want them to put ‘check the smoke alarm’ on the top of that list. That quick check could save their lives. We appreciate the efforts of staff here at the University of Illinois in helping us get this important message to students,” said Foreman.