REFLECTION PAPER

Reflection paper discussing fires in university residential housing

Reflection paper discussing fires in university residential housing

Introduction

Historically, it has been a challenge for campus administrators to provide a safe and secure environment for all students, and especially to protect those students who reside on campus. American colleges have taken their security responsibilities seriously, as in the past a parental-type relationship with students was assumed by colleges and universities. Currently, campus police and security departments are primarily responsible for developing comprehensive programs to provide for the safety of college communities. Fires in dorms, student apartments, are usually caused due to negligence by students, careless handling of fire (smoking, use of open sources of fire, etc), and also because of the failure, as well as violations of domestic use of electric heating appliances, electrical systems, etc. The consequences of fire are heartrending as seen in the video, but, as fires can be avoided by following the basic requirements of fire safety rules a number of lives as well as property and equipments can be saved from turning into smoke ashes. This paper is a reflection paper discussing fires in university residential housing.

Discussion

After watching the video it is evident that the problem of fire safety of residential areas within universities is now more relevant than ever. According to statistics, the majority of fires in dormitories are due to faulty wiring. Not every dormitory for students are equipped with emergency exits, and if they have, they often find themselves blocked. Unfortunately, the number of fires in universities in U.S. every year did not significantly decrease, and the extent of their destructive effects is increasing.

In the United States each year almost 1,000 smokers and non-citizens are killed in fires caused by cigarette smoking and/or other tobacco products. The U.S. Fire Administration performs regular work to prevent deaths and injuries at these fires, as they took first place in a number of causes of multiple fire situations. According to the report of the National Association of Fire Safety USA (NFPA), fire services responded to the 82,400 fires that occurred due to smoking in 2005. The total death toll was 800 people (one in four deaths in such fires - Non Citizen), 1660 people were injured and, material losses were $ 575 million U.S. dollars. General statistics for the victims of fires due to smoking are:

34% - are children of a smoker;

25% - neighbors or friends a smoker;

14% - spouse (a) smoking;

13% - parents smoking;

The U.S. Fire Administration is actively cooperating with the National Association of Fire Safety USA (NFPA) in the direction of the educational campaign against smoking in homes especially in dormitories, and university residential housings. The site of the American Fire Administration (www.usfa.dhs.gov) contains a large amount of material that can be downloaded from the Internet, including posters, brochures, fact-sheets, audio and video recordings in order to obtain the fullest information on the subject.

The most common causes of fires in the campus homes (residential) are:

Careless handling of fire (including the students antics with ...