Black smoke pours out of the dorm room microwave. It takes a second for the two roommates, who are watching TV, to see and smell the smoke, and another second for them to realize that the neglected bag of popcorn inside is up in flames.

They open the door, freezing briefly — unsure of what to do — before one of them springs into action. He races outside the room and grabs the fire extinguisher in the hallway. In the room, he quickly pulls the pin, takes aim and fires into the microwave.

According to Bill Stevenson, fire marshall for the University’s Fire Protection Division, this scenario happened recently, and it was the students’ quick reaction that prevented a potentially serious situation.

This week — a year since the tragic fire at the former residence of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity — is National Fire Prevention Week, and the event’s motto this year is “watch what you heat,” focusing on cooking safety, in both on-campus and off-campus housing.

The event, hosted by Stevenson’s division, is intended to raise student awareness about fire safety.

According to Stevenson, North Carolina is number two in annual fire fatalities. However, most of these do not occur on campuses.

Stevenson said that educating the student body is a large part of his job.

“Students are listening [and] taking it seriously,” he said. “We really want to get the word out to all students [but] especially to off-campus [students].”

Stevenson said the the occurrence of fires on campus is extremely rare — in part because of student awareness.

He said that most of the fire fatalities, such as the ones at Sigma Alpha Mu, occur off campus, and that is due to carelessness as well as a lack of restrictions and safety measures. He added cooking is one of the leading causes of accidental fires.

Kitchen fires are easily sparked by negligence and get out of control when people are uneducated on how to extinguish them.

Another tip to help avoid accidental fires off campus, Stevenson said, is to assign someone to fire watch at parties, keeping an eye out for lit cigarettes which can be dropped on upholstery.

However, the single most important fire prevention device, according to Stevenson, is a smoke alarm.

“Fire doesn’t kill a person,” Stevenson said, “It’s the smoke and toxic gases [from a fire] that kills a person.”

Regular testing of fire alarms is the simplest way to avoid a potentially fatal fire, and according to Stevenson, most of the work that the FPD does is preventive.

The FPD works closely with two other departments — University Housing and the Office of University Insurance and Risk Management — to prevent fires before they start.

According to Jim Semple, director of insurance and risk management, one of his office’s main duties is to investigate fire occurrences and fire causation in collaboration with FPD.

“One of the purposes of fire investigation is to prevent future fire events,” Semple said.

According to Barry Olsen, assistant director for housing facilities, based on direction from the FPD and Insurance and Risk Management, the University has taken a number of steps to prevent on-campus fires.

These steps include restricting anything with an open flame such as candles, as well as regular fire code safety inspections which are conducted by FPD.

However, according to Olsen, the responsibility ultimately rests on the students to prevent fires.

“We have to rely on [students] to make sure our systems are safe,” Olsen said. “Be smart.”