Overcoming a sense of invincibility
By Kierra Sondereker, The Miami Student
During the 2016 spring semester, 92 fire violations were reported in off-campus Greek houses. With an average of 24 houses inspected, this comes down to about four violations per house.
Oxford Fire Chief John Detherage said that fire violations can range from the use of a hot plate to the presence of holes in the walls or ceiling.
"On routine inspections, what occurs most often are [the use of] extension cords, things stored in the hallways or stairwells [which block fire escapes] and the self-closing fire doors being broken," Detherage said.
Once a fire violation is found, the occupants are responsible for fixing the violations.
"We look for [occupants] to fix the stuff immediately if that's possible," said Detherage. "Other violations that take longer, like things that need repaired, we usually give them two weeks to a month, depending on how long we think it's going to take for them to get it fixed. Then we will return and inspect to make sure that the things were repaired or removed."
Failure to fix a violation can result in a citation of up to $500. All fines that are collected due to fire violations are placed in the Fire and EMS Fund, the source of the majority of funds used to support the Oxford Fire Department.
The number of violations is down about 50 percent from the fall 2015 semester total of 180.
The City of Oxford, the Oxford Fire Department, the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and the Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life all work together in order to regulate and protect against fire and property management violations.
At the beginning of each semester, the Oxford Fire Department holds mandatory meetings with each fraternity's house manager to explain expectations and go over the more serious violations, which can result in automatic fines.
Sterling Parker, a brother of Delta Kappa Epsilon and the IFC vice president of housing and facilities management, said that because many of the off-campus fraternity houses are older buildings, they don't comply with modern fire code.
Parker believes that the number of fire violations found off-campus last spring is a reasonable one.
"I'd say [having 92 fire violations] is pretty average, because the house managers will oversee [fire standards] for the common rooms, but not the individual rooms," said Parker. "A lot of the time it's just the individual rooms with violations."
While the term "fire violation" may refer to something as small as not having a cover on an outlet, Vice President of Student Affairs Jayne Brownell said that the procedure of checking for violations emphasizes the importance of fire safety.
"I don't think [fire safety] is a thing that students are aware of," Brownell said. "There are fires on college campuses every year. There are people who die from fire every year."
In 2005, three Miami students were killed in an off-campus house fire.
In addition to facilitating the Canvas-based fire safety training that is mandatory for all incoming Miami students, the Office of Student Affairs conducts fire education for students looking for off-campus housing, compiles checklists to make sure off-campus houses have safety measures in place and sends newsletters to Miami parents to raise awareness of how fire safety affects their students.
"I am sure there is always more that we can do [to promote fire safety], because I don't think that you can over-sensitize about how serious this issue can be," said Brownell. "It is one of those things where people who are college age think that nothing bad can ever happen to them. So it is partially the question of, 'How do you overcome that sense of invincibility to have people take it seriously?'"