The Office of the University Fire Marshal is working on developing and implementing a new initiative towards public education regarding fire safety and hazards.

William Stevenson, University fire marshal, said although public education system is present

since the inception of the University, it has not gained much importance as it should have.

“The public education program has been around since the inception of the university. However, it has not gained much importance. We now wish to re-group the infrastructure and start it afresh,” Stevenson said.

Robyn Dawson, deputy fire marshal and a certified fire and life safety educator, has been appointed the program manager for this initiative. Dawson said it is difficult to encourage students to take the fire safety initiative and explain its importance.

“Students normally see us at work when it is an emergency or for some legal confrontations,” Dawson said.

According to Dawson, everybody in the Fire Safety Department participates in the programs.

“Each individual of the Fire Safety Department will participate in the program in some way or the other. It is important to share the information about fire safety with the students as they are the most important assets to any university,” Stevenson said.

The Office of the University Fire Marshal is working to inform students about the programs, according to Stevenson.

“We compile some programs ourselves and put it out to students to share or we sometimes buy it from outsiders. As far as possible, we try to put the program information on all types mass media. We have also recently started online training and online courses on public education for fire safety. Online is the best way to reach students these days. We are working closely with the WolfBytes and other electronic media also,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson believes that his staff has a lot of experience and that the program is shaping out well.

“On October 20 this year, we are planning to put up a kitchen fire alarm simulation with the help of Raleigh Fire Department and the University Housing Staff. We will model two kitchens similar in structure, except that one will have a sprinkler system in case of fire and one will not. These simulations will help educate the public about the hazards of not having fire safety equipments like sprinklers or fire extinguishers. The implications of such a simulation will lead to further simulations in future for living rooms, dorm rooms, etc.”, Stevenson said.

Stevenson said that this event is open to public. It will also be recorded and provided electronically also.

“We expect to have some local news coverage too,” Stevenson said.

Dawson explained some of the programs that are carried out by the fire and safety department.

Gaurav Tungatkar, a graduate student in computer networking, said fire public education will be useful.

“I do not have much knowledge about the activities of fire and safety department. Thus, fire public education initiative will be definitely fruitful,” Tungatkar said.

Rohan Bhutkar, a graduate student in computer engineering, said the online classes will help spread the awareness.

“Once the online Fire and Safety class is offered to the public, it will help spread the awareness even further,” Bhutkar said.