Environmental Health Safety & Risk Management Office 2017-2020 Annual Fire Safety Report
The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008 requires colleges that maintain any on-campus student housing facilities to distribute an annual fire safety report. The annual fire safety report must be made available to all enrolled students and current employees. Colleges must also provide prospective students and prospective employees access to the report and the exact electronic address if the report is reported online. The fire and life safety report will include: statistics for the three most recent years starting in 2017, number of fires and their causes, number of injuries, number of deaths, property damage, description of each housing facility fire safety system, number of fire drills held during the previous calendar year, police on portable electrical appliances, smoking, open flames, procedures for evacuation, fire safety education and training, titles of each person or organization to which students and employees should report a fire and plans for future improvements to campus fire safety.
A. 2015-2018 Annual Fire Safety Report
| Location | Cause | Injuries | Deaths | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avoca A | 0 | 0 | ||
| Avoca | 0 | 0 | ||
| Avoca C | 0 | 0 | ||
| Avoca D | 0 | 0 | ||
| Avoca E | 0 | 0 | ||
| Hillside 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Sky View | 0 | 0 | ||
| St. Joseph's | 0 | 0 | ||
| Watson Apartment | 0 | 0 | ||
| Joeris | 0 | 0 | ||
| Skyroom/McCombs Center | 0 | 0 | ||
| Madeline Hall | 0 | 0 | ||
| Clement | 0 | 0 | ||
| Dubuis Residence Hall (Closed for renovation 2019) | 0 | 0 | ||
|
Agnese/Sosa Living Center |
0 | 0 |
- Description of each housing Facility Fire Safety System:
- Avoca A and B apartments: are protected by a fire alarm system monitored by a commercial central station service, smoke alarms and smoke detectors in each sleeping room.
- Avoca C, D, and E apartments: are protected by a complete automatic sprinkler system, a fire alarm system monitored by a commercial central station service, and smoke alarms and smoke detectors in each sleeping room.
- Hillside I, Skyview, Joeris, McCombs Center/Sky Room dorms, Agnese/Sosa, Clement, and Watson: are protected by a complete automatic sprinkler system, smoke alarms and smoke detectors in each sleeping room, fire alarm system monitored by a commercial central station service, egress corridors and stairwells are fire rated.
- St Joseph’s: is protected by a fire alarm system monitored by a commercial central station service, smoke alarms, and smoke detectors in each sleeping room.
- Bishop Claude Dubuis Residence Hall: is protected by a locally monitored fire alarm system, smoke alarms in each sleeping room. This residence hall was closed for renovations in 2019.
- A number of regular mandatory supervised fire drills:
- Campus Life, Environmental Health Safety and Risk Management office (EHSRM), and University Police conduct fire drills for each campus living facility every semester, resulting in 22 fire drills each year.
- Policies on portable electrical appliances, smoking, and open flames:
- Smoking is prohibited on all University property. Furthermore, the littering of cigarette butts in common areas on campus is prohibited. The first violation will result in a $50 fine and subsequent violations are $100 each and may include disciplinary sanctions.
- Due to electrical requirements and safety precautions, appliances with exposed heating elements, sun lamps, tanning beds, space heaters, ceiling fans, black lights, microwave ovens of more than 750 watts, hot plates, electric frying pans, toaster ovens, George Foreman type grills, rice cookers, crock pots, open-faced electrical or heating appliances, outside antennas of any kind are not permitted in residence halls rooms. The storage of any flammable fluid is not allowed.
- Because of the fire hazard presented by burning candles, incense, potpourri pots, and other devices, which use an open flame, these items are not allowed in the residence halls. Unlit candles are not permitted. Failure to follow the Candle/Incense Policy will result in confiscation of the materials and a $25 fine will be imposed. A $50 fine will be imposed for each subsequent violation of this policy.
- Fire Safety Education Program:
- The EHSRM office conducts fire and life safety training every semester to the Residence Life staff, students, and university staff.
- Reporting a Campus Housing Fire:
- All fires on campus should be immediately reported to the UIW Police Department at 210-829-6030 and the Director of EHSRM at 210-829-6035
- Future Fire Safety Plans:
- UIW plans to connect all campus buildings including all campus housing to the Campus-wide Mass Notification System. UIW is also developing plans to sprinkler all-campus housing.
- Evacuation plans:
- UIW has an Emergency and Response and Evacuation plan. The plan can be accessed by going to the EHSRM webpage at: https://my.uiw.edu/safety/
- UIW has developed a tiered emergency response and evacuation program to alert students and employees in the event of an emergency on campus. UIW’s tiered system incorporates a written Emergency Response and Evacuation Plan (EREP), a Mass Notification System (MNS), a text messaging system (RAVE), and web-based alerts via UIW’s home page. The MNS system will broadcast voice alerts to students, faculty, staff, and visitors in the event of an emergency through a high-power speaker array. The campus warning system broadcasts alerts via a secure network that continues to operate during a disaster. In the event of an emergency on campus, the tiered system is capable of informing individuals of immediate dangers, both indoors and outdoors, quickly and accurately.