 Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service also launched a campaign. |
Washington, DC — Eighty students and campus fire-safety advocates joined law- and policy-makers on Capitol Hill today to launch National Campus Fire Safety Month in order to raise awareness of students, parents, and administrators of the importance of campus fire safety and the steps they can take to prevent the needless loss of life. This year’s theme, “Fire Safety – Take it Everywhere,” sends the important message that fire safety does not stop at the campus borders nor when the school year ends.
A national coalition including the Congressional Fire Service Institute, the Ohio Fire Safety Coalition, Campus Firewatch, the Chapel Hill (N.C.) Fire Department, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of South Carolina, parents of fire victims, and survivors of campus-related fires visited U.S. representatives and senators from across the country to urge continued improvements in campus and off-campus fire safety prevention and education efforts.
“It is important to recognize the National Campus Fire Safety Month announcement for its emphasis on protecting our young people,” said Chapel Hill (N.C.) Fire Chief Dan Jones. “However, it is even more significant that universities tied together in fire loss tragedies are bringing students together in Washington D.C. to meet with members of Congress and other federal officials in order to prevent other institutions of higher learning from suffering similar tragedies. As a representative of the Fire Service and a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, I am proud to support these college students as they take an active role in the nation’s fire prevention efforts.”
Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ), Congressman Bill Pascrell (NJ), Congressman Joe Wilson (SC), Congressman David Price (NC), and Congressman James Clyburn (SC) joined coalition leaders for a press conference calling for national attention to the issue of campus fire safety.
This year’s message will continue to push successful efforts to gain improved on-campus improvements in fire safety, as well as drive focus to the continuing problems with off-campus housing where two-thirds of the national student population lives and where 80 percent of student fatalities occur. Life-long learning will also be captured with lessons in fire safety that can be transferred beyond campus, regardless if it is to a parent’s home, first apartments or vacation.
Now in its fourth year, National Campus Fire Safety Month is extending its reach to the state level legislature and internationally. Nearly 30 states have declared September Campus Fire Safety Month.
UK Also Launches Awareness Campaign Today
For the first time, U.S. advocates were joined by the Cheshire (UK) Fire and Rescue Service, which today also launched an aggressive awareness campaign to reduce student-related fires. Teaming up for an international awareness reflects the many common factors between campus fires in the two countries, including a lack of smoke alarms, use of candles and other open flame, and the lethal combination of alcohol and fire – a central component of the UK campaign.
“Thousands, if not millions, of parents on either side of the Atlantic, share similar concerns as they say goodbye to young people who are going off to study and find their way in life,” said Steve McGuirk, Chief Fire Officer of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service. “Many young people will reflect on this period as being the ‘best time of their lives.’ Our joint campaigns have been designed to ensure that we make those young people aware of the dangers in order to protect themselves and prevent tragedy like we’ve seen the past. We hope this is the start of a cross-Atlantic relationship that will truly save lives”.
New Website Resource igot2kno.org
Those participating in National Campus Fire Safety Month activities will have a new tool in their educational arsenal, the new campus fire prevention website igot2kno.org, co-sponsored by the Peoples Burn Foundation of Indiana and Campus Firewatch.
Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know Act
The launch of the 2008 National Campus Fire Safety Month comes on the heels of the recent passage and signing of The Higher Education Opportunity Act, which contains provisions from the Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know Act introduced by Congressman Bill Pascrell (NJ-8) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ). The provisions aim to address concerns relating to recent fires in college dormitories and off-campus student housing by requiring schools to report fire safety information to the Department of Education and making this information publicly available to students and parents.
Representative Pascrell and the late Representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones of Ohio, who died suddenly on August 20, co-sponsored the legislation to designate September National Campus Fire Safety Month. “Congresswomen Tubbs Jones’ commitment and passion for the safety of young people will be missed,” said Ed Comeau, publisher of Campus Firewatch.