FIRE IN THE HALLS!

Staff members in the offices of Independent were surprised when a university staff member entered the office asking if we could write a story about the lack of response to fire alarms that sounded in the university on Monday, December 6th.

Official reports say that there wasn't an actual fire, but at about 12:15, Monday afternoon – work that was being done by contractors in the lower levels of the D-Building produced enough dust that it agitated fire sensors setting off the alarms.

Student response to those alarms was minimal. In fact, staff members state that they had to ask students to leave the cafeteria area and go outside numerous times. "I told them that they needed to go outside, and they just looked at me like something was wrong with me", stated one custodial worker.

This is not; however, the first time that Northeastern faced a safety dilemma. We were told that there was a fire on campus before, and student response was slow even then. University Police Commander Sergeant David DeCled spoke with reporters and emphasized the importance in adhering to university safety rules. He says that it is their job as campus police to keep the NEIU community safe, but that, "if [students] don't smell smoke, or see fire, it's hard to convince them to leave the building".

American Society of Safety Engineers published a quote on their website which states, "‘Every year we hear of repeated tragedies involving college students injured and killed in fires. Many of these deaths are due to a general lack of knowledge about fire safety and prevention,' said ASSE Fire Protection PS Administrator Frank Baker, CSP, CFPS." Knowledge of NEIU Campus Safety is integral for a safe response from students in the case of an emergency. The campus Emergency Procedures website contains the protocol various safety needs on our campus. This information can be found at:

http://www.neiu.edu/~neiutemp/Emergency_Procedures/MainCampus/