Fire Safety

Required reading and viewing for orientation and all students:

• Online Fire Safety Orientation for all Wellesley College Students

• Wellesley College Student Fire Safety Guidelines & Information

• Wellesley College Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report
• If you are involved in a fire incident, report it here: Report a Fire Incident

 

Fire Safety & Emergency Evacuations for Residence Halls

At Wellesley College we all have responsibility for fire and life safety. An important part of each person’s responsibility is being familiar with your surroundings and following these guidelines to ensure the safe and timely evacuation of all building occupants during a man-made or natural emergency:

• Respond and react to every fire alarm by evacuating quickly and safely.
• Locate the two exit pathways from your space. Count the number of doors between your room and the exits. This can assist you during an emergency evacuation.
• Know where the fire alarm pull stations on your floor are so they may be activated in the event of a potential life-threatening emergency.
• Do not block fire extinguishers and other fire safety equipment – maintain these areas for quick and easy access at all times.
• Keep egress paths clear - this includes hallways and stairwells. Do not store personal items, furniture, file cabinets, etc. in these areas.
• Ensure that fire doors are kept closed at all times.
• Cook only where permitted and never leave cooking unattended.
• Do not smoke inside buildings.
• Do not overload electrical outlets.
• Have an escape plan and always have an alternative exit.

 

Academic & Administration Buildings

• Wellesley College Emergency Evacuation Plan
• What staff and students should know about Building Evacuations
• OSHA Emergency Action Plan
• Notice about hallway storage during moves and renovations
• Bi-Weekly Inspection Forms for FIRE CHIEFS
• Holiday Fire Safety
• Campus and Dorm Fire Safety Information from NFPA
• Fire Extinguishers - OSHA's Extinguisher Basics
• Safe Use of Extension Cords: Dos and Don'ts

 

Fire Safety Videos

• Residence Hall Cooking Fire Safety (79 sec) credit: Michael H Minger Foundation
• Two Ways Out - the importance of knowing a second way out of any building (78 sec) credit: Michael H Minger Foundation
• Smoke Alarms and Fire Sprinklers in Residence Halls (48 sec) credit: Michael H. Minger Foundation
• Dorm Room Fire Side by Side Comparison (3.22 min) Watch a fire consume a dorm room in real time and see how sprinklers give you time to escape in a side by side comparison. credit: Campus Firewatch and Kent State University
• Office Setting Test Burn Video (7 min) credit: NIST and Livonia FD
• Timed Total Room Burn and Flashover Phenomenon (5 min) credit: NIST and Livonia FD
• Home Fire Sprinkler vs. No Fire Sprinkler - side-by-side comparison (90 sec) credit: Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition
• Close Your Door - the importance of keeping your bedroom door closed at night, or using a closed door as a barrier against fire spread (5 min) credit: Underwriters Laboratory UL

 

Resources

• Fire Safety Tips from the US Fire Safety Administration
• United State Fire Administration - Info for College Campuses
• The Center for Campus Fire Safety - Everyone Graduates!
• OSHA Information on Fire Safety
• Campus Fire Watch - an Electronic Newsletter providing key fire safety information specific to college & university campuses.
• National Safety Council - Family Fire Safety Tips
• The Michael H. Minger Foundation - provides a series of online videos a "Guide to Teaching Fire Safety to Students with Disabilities"
• The NFPA Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide for People with Disabilities was developed to address the needs, criteria, and minimum information necessary to integrate the proper components for the disabled community into a comprehensive evacuation planning strategy. This guide can be downloaded from the NFPA website.

 

Questions? Concerns?

Contact Fire Safety Officers at x3885, or email:

• Ken Tremblay, ktremblay@wellesley.edu
• Robert Cunha, rcunha@wellesley.edu