Safety product: Todd’s Fire Drill

Hi,

If you trust a school to educate your children and to house them you wouldn’t want to worry about fire in the dormitories of colleges and boarding school. 

Statistics for US schools (U.S. Fire Administration National Fire Data Center, 2007) reveal that there were no reported school related fire deaths for the year 2006-2007.  Why is this?  Why is it that Canada and European schools have similar statistics?  It is because of the government enforced fire safety policies that are strictly monitored.  Fire drills are required at least once a month.  Fire evacuation routes have to be posted.  In most schools there is a required sprinkler system, or fire escape.  The report quoted above credits the fire drills as the largest contributing factor to the safety of the students in schools.  Yet, when there is a school related fire death reported, they tend to be in boarding schools in these countries.  Why?  The answer unfortunately is simple.  The one thing that happens in a boarding school that does not happen in a regular school is that students sleep in their own beds.  Sleeping is the only listed contributing factor to school related fire deaths in these countries.

School inspections include examinations into fire safety in these countries.  In most cases those reports are also available online.  Past concerns are also reviewed and examined in these reports.  Even schools in Korea have stringent rules on fire safety (Korea International School, 2007).

Yet, there are still many schools in Africa, Asia and, South America, where state required inspections do not exist or are not as strict have had large death tolls related to boarding school fires.  On April 15th 2008, a fire ripped through a dormitory in Buddo Junior Primary School, a boarding school in Uganda.  Nineteen girls as young as 12 and two adults were killed (OLUKYA, 2008).  On March 26, 2001 a fire killed 59 boys at the Kyanguli Secondary School in Machakos, a boarding school out (Associated Press, 2002).  In both cases there were serious fire hazards.  Doors were locked.  Windows were barred.  Government monitoring was lax.  The living condition in both cases was poor.

When you look at a boarding school no matter what country, visit the dorm!  Talk to the students, ask questions about fire drills.  Ask the students if they are ever awakened by one.  Its one thing to send your little one to a school known for its academics, its another thing to send your child someplace to live without first visiting the place and people you will trust to care for your child.  Kenya and Uganda are only a few of such places that have had fires with deadly results.

The US Fire Administration (2007) reports that hotels, boarding houses and boarding schools are susceptible to higher incidences of fire because of carelessness, smoking, candles, and simple ordinary home life activities that are not appropriate for a boarding/hotel type atmosphere.  Cooking in electric appliances such as toaster ovens or electric plates, discarding flammable materials such as cigarettes, storing towels and sheets where cleaning supplies are kept are just a few of the things that lead to fires in boarding schools. 

Safety Tip: Remember, if you want your child to be safe in a boarding school, visit the school, ask students questions, and check out the school’s last inspection.  These two tasks will protect your children in their home away from home. 

Do you have a concern or experience related to this article?  If so, leave a comment and share your concerns with others. 

Safe living, Yovette Mumford