Additional Fire Survey Respondent Comments

Here are the top concerns and comments that were written in by respondents to the December 2011 Campus Safety magazine and Center for Campus Fire Safety fire survey.

Published: January 10, 2012Author: Robin Hattersley

Other Comments (Cont.)

The administration and the departmental offices do not think that fire safety is a top priority. Fire safety training get shorter and shorter for time allowed.
Admin has gone above the normal to upgrade fire/safety issues on campus
I would like to enhance fire safety training offered to the students, but my job duties are consumed with training & compliance for University employees
Our policy and California Building Code requirements mandate fire alarm systems in all campus facilities and University Policy is to install fire sprinkler protection
We actively promote fire safety to students/faculty/staff
Administrators at my campus have been very proactive about fire safety. We have a sole source provider for detection so integration is not a problem. The system has its own network that is monitored 24/7 by University Police. Nearly every building on campus is monitored with an addressable system that reports simultaneously in the building and to UP. We also upgrade our protections systems with all remodels.
We feel that the integration and ability of different systems and manufacturers is a major problem. If you lock into one manufacturer they hold you hostage and different ones don’t play well together.
Education of occupants regarding fire protection systems and fire safety in general remains a challenge due to turnover and decentralization of faculty, staff and students
Fire Safety Awareness Training that is supported by the Administration
We spent money on card access for individual rooms when it should have spent on sprinkler installation
I have learned in my time here that it takes patience and persistence to see improvements made regarding not only fire safety but safety in general.
We installed complete fire alarm and sprinkler systems in all residence halls 6 years ago
I believe the folks in charge are doing the best they can with the money they are provided
Having multiple academic buildings creates a challenge to accomplish monthly drills in each building. Time is valuable to the faculty, and repetitive drills to the same audience looses benefit over time.
Many of the rules are over the top and some are more appearance than actual safety
We have a certified Fire Safety Officer as part of our Safety staff. He performs monthly building inspections and reports to Safety Committee monthly.
Quarterly Fire Safety Equipment Audit is very effective
Most of our fire episodes don not involve our fire alarm system. The fires involve trash containers or shrubbery. Usually caused by careless smokers.
Our college is a state institution and our budgets have been continually cut. Given our limited resources we cannot afford any upgrades which would allow for better climate control. Therefore, people are forced to use space heaters and the college is fined for this practice.
We have excellent systems and policies in place
We are building a brand new facility which will incorporate state of the art fire protection
Institutional key-operated manual pull stations would nix the false alarms by the psychiatric patients
Just completed integration of our 2 systems – should assure more reliable operation. Our PA and paging systems provide notification of event and location; but do not provide verbal response instructions.
Employees and students ignoring the fire alarms, foreign employees/students not understanding what the fire alarm means, with the new NFPA standard and equipment that now adds an amber strobe to the clear strobe now complicates that matter of what strobe means what and what do I do about it. It all comes down to education, but does the clear strobe mean that it’s a fire and I need to evacuate or does the clear strobe mean that I need to go to the basement for a tornado warning?
We have multiple systems that don’t really work together but do provide extra protection and the fire chief likes the system that we have in place. We have overly sensitive smoke alarms wired in the building that cause extra fire alarms and maintenance because of bein
g set off more frequently. We also have a sprinkler system in place, which helps with making us covered for smoke and heat but also makes it so we have more maintenance to stay in all of the regulations.
We have improved the fire alarm system 100%
The institution has problematic issues with false alarms and sensitive detectors. The drills are always the minimum standard for yearly emergency fire building evacuation when sounding the alarm and nothing more.
Our School district has spent close to 300,000 dollars in the past few years up-grading all our systems
A Fire Safety System should be tied into an overall Central Alarm Station
We had one system that covered five buildings on campus; we now have five systems in five buildings and they don’t interconnect well
We have a very proactive staff and faculty when it comes to fire safety
The largest concern is the number of fire drills we are required to have each year. Regardless of how much we involve our staff, they still are complacent and do not follow instructions about their role in a fire or fire safety.
We have made significant improvement over the past 10 years
Most of our Fire calls are for burnt food in microwave ovens, however, we do have outdated pull stations/systems on campus that are not currently a priority for the administration.
Our school is the “ugly step child” in our district. We will not receive upgrades or new equipment for years to come.
Senior staff support would greatly help to process
It is a constant struggle to get some school principals to work with fire safety officials on everything from compliance on fire codes to using the Junior Fire Starter Program in cases of arson. We are working with our fire departments to improve our drills to make them more effective and to increase accountability.
Right now, fire safety is split between 3 departments: education, training and drills are Campus Safety; extinguisher checks and replacements are Env. Health and Safety and system testing and maintenance are in Facilities: too much potential for gaps.