Fire Safety in the two newest residence halls

By Petruce Jean-Charles | Published by May 13, 2019

Kean University’s Freshman Residence Hall and the Upper-Class Residence Hall had the greatest number of fire alarm incidents on the Union campus over the last five years, but most were accidental, according to the Annual Campus Safety Report. 

The Freshman Residence Hall had 34 total fire alarm cases, while the Upper-Class Residence Hall had 31 total incidents compared to the other residence halls. 

The total number of fire alarms in residence halls was 318, between Spring 2014 and Fall 2016.  

Aside from the Freshman and Upper-Class Residence Halls, there are over five other residence halls. The Freshman and Upper-Class Residence Hall are fairly new compared to the other halls, having been constructed in the past five years. 

According to the Annual Campus Safety Report, cooking issues was the number one reason for initiating fire alarms with 28 out of 106 fire alarm incidents documented.  

Freshmen were also recorded as having the most fire alarm incidents under “Other” indicating that it could have been a serious issue. 10 cases were found in the Freshman Residence Hall, with the same hall having over 34 total occurrences.  

Every residence hall has a monitoring fire alarm set up on-site, a partial and full sprinkler system, smoke detection, fire extinguishers, evacuation plans and placards, and fire drills each calendar year. 

The Office of Fire Safety conduct inspections of buildings with the Division of Fire Safety Inspectors.  

Len Dolan, director of Fire Safety at Kean University attributed the general number of fire alarm issues to accidental alarms. 

“There are a lot of cause for the fire alarms to go off…generally speaking accidental alarms are most common,” Dolan said. “Some of these causes are shower steam, hairdryers or something as simple as making popcorn.” 

According to Dolan, by New Jersey state laws, universities have to have two fire drills a semester. One 10 days after the semester starts and one after dark.  

“These fire drills aren’t random. I try to hold it within the 10 days, but sometimes there are issues of bad timing,” Dolan said. “It usually takes five to eight people to check each residence hall…I always try to find the best time to do it.” 

Dolan mentioned by law that universities have to have smoke detectors in various areas of the residence halls. 

“We have smoke detectors in corners around the hall and even near bathrooms…most occurrences are because of the steam in showers,” Dolan said. “In fact, the Freshman Residence Hall and the Upper-Class Residence Hall have more cases of steam issues because of how it’s set up…rather than the other residence halls.” 

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