The Burning Issue of Fire Prevention

Over the past year I have come to grow intellectually and in personal maturity.  Recently I was found “responsible” for the presence of a flammable cloth closet covering and an unlit candle in my dorm. Specifically I have “been found Responsible for 2015.20.A.RL06 Possession/use of prohibited items” and “been found Responsible for 2015.20.A.RL09 not adhering to the Health and Safety Inspections policy or failure to correct violations.”  These two infractions were recorded during a Health and Safety Inspection that occurred sometime around February 25, 2016 and I was informed on March 23, 2016.

As my sanction, the following paper reflects on the potential cost to my fellow dorm dwellers, the Commonwealth dormitory community as a whole, and the larger GMU community. I have chosen to add a narrative attempting to capture how events transpired that led to the violations, for by not recognizing how we got to where we are, we will be unable to avoid the mistakes of the past and avoid the potential pitfalls associated with the incomplete following of GMU’s well-considered, clearly articulated, and readily accessible Student Housing code.

My story starts in August 2015.  I’m moving into college and am excited to be a transfer student at GMU.  My parents helped me move in and get settled. I wonder if they, in their rush to get me out of the house, considered the potential impact when they bought the shower drape for me to use as a closet curtain.  Untreated with a fire retardant there is no way to know the potential energy stored in its loosely woven threads. The fire triangle (i.e., oxygen, fuel, and heat) is two of three sides away from being completed. And my Dad hung that fabric. Did he know? Did he even care? I can’t look at him now without wondering. The other parents obviously cared enough for their children to not put them at risk. Unforgivable.

September 2015 is the first full month living in the dorm and I’m still excited, there is still much newness in campus life and I’m getting to know my floor mates and suite mates. Their varied life-stories, dreams, ambitions, and plans are discussed over late talks. The Commonwealth community is an interesting mix of young men and women some of whom are transfer students like I am, some are freshmen just starting out and excited to be away from home for the first time.

By October the heat of summer is dying down and I’m well into my semester routine. I have become involved in the Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM) and during a retreat we make candles. It is a casual activity that prompts reflection over the weekend. We light the candles as part of a prayer ceremony I feel peace and connectedness with my GMU community. I don’t throw away the candle at the end of the ceremony. Instead I take it back to my room in Commonwealth and put it on my dresser.  In an uncharacteristic moment I fail to recall that page 60, of the 72 page Residential Handbook, containing a listing of prohibited items in the dorms, clearly lists candles (along with non-fire retardant curtains). In the excitement of the moment(s) of my independence and being with similarly minded young men and women, I have failed to consider the implications of keeping my candle. Sitting on my dresser for the next five months this decision will come to haunt me.

November 2015 is an odd month. It is the bridge to winter with darkening skies, witches and candy. At this point all of us on the floor have passed mid-terms and are feeling the home stretch to close out the semester. Being inside you look at the stark cinder-block walls, fire sprinklers, alarms, and the fire-doors at each end of the hall. Where would a fire go if it started? Would it burn itself out in the room of origin? How would it spread between rooms?  What about the smoke? That’s the real risk. According to the National Fire Prevention Association, the majority of injuries are caused by smoke inhalation. In fact, the burning of synthetic fabrics (particularly vinyls) is a key contributor by the creation of Phosgene, which can cause pulmonary edema and death. And the air we breathe is only ~21% oxygen. By a combination of consuming oxygen in the burning of the fire and displacing air with toxic smoke, reducing the oxygen content of the air by only 4% begins to reduce judgment and mental acuity.  Death results when the oxygen content drops to ~9% of the air we breathe.

Back to my chronology, December 2015 went by quickly as everyone was busy trying to finish out the semester. I was looking forward to going home for winter break to spend time with my dog. Over the month long break, I left everything in my room as is, candle on the desk and curtain hanging up. I failed to think of the possible consequences of what could’ve happen while everyone was gone over break. We came back from break and started the new semester and got hit with a snowstorm. I, along with everyone else in this building was stuck inside, while the cloth covering was hung and the candle was still on the desk. This was reckless, what would’ve happen if there was a fire during the snowstorm? We would’ve all been put out into the snow and could’ve potentially lost our belongings.

It’s February and brutally cold and a fitting month because this is when the violations are finally given out. The mocking closet curtain’s time is limited…though I won’t be told for another four weeks. These are the worst weeks, especially in hindsight. The potential for tragedy is known but no action is taken. Without notification, the curtain actually mocks me every time I open or close the door, the displaced air causing the current to billow in the wind…in some ways like the very flame that it could be (well…given an ignition source). Not till later will I realize how truly precarious my time now is.

In March the citation is finally delivered. This dramatic play is drawing to a close. In confusion I ask my RA what my violations are as the words cited in the opening paragraph identify the violation, but not the actual violation itself. Citing confusion and no insight into the goings on, she claims no knowledge. Worse, the closet curtain still hangs, a taunting, mute testament to potential destruction.  The mockery is numbing, the potential catastrophe a shock to all the senses.

In April the words come. The violation is the curtain and the candle. They are immediately removed. For far too long they lay idle, threatening the community with their presence. It took the Resident Director to relay the details of the violations. Without the RD providing those details the death curtain would have continued to hang, covering my shoes and clothes. With the hazard removed, I sleep more peacefully than I can recall. Maybe, deep down in some inexplicable way, I knew there was something wrong with the curtain.  

Researching fire safety and statistics from candles is astonishing. According to the National Fire Protection Agency 36% of all fires from candles occurred in bedrooms.[1] This is a high number and it’s understandable why this rule is enforced strictly and taken seriously. The NFPA has a report that states the average response time for the fire department in a suburban area is 10 minutes.[2] This doesn’t seem like a long time but fire spreads quickly and 10 minutes can do a lot of damage. Evacuating a building is also not an easy task, and it would take everyone a few minutes to exit the building. Fires are a serious issue and it is necessary to do everything possible to prevent them.

Final thoughts. This paper would be incomplete without sharing my thoughts on what constitutes real, meaningful improvement to the process of ensuring dormitory safety and the conduct of Health and Safety inspections.  First the offending curtain hung from August until February before being identified as a safety violation.  Even after it was flagged as a safety violation, it took an additional six weeks before I was told and was able to pull it down. If safety is the concern, the curtain should have come down the day it was found….or even within a couple days…

• college
• dorm
• fire
• GMU