Stricter Enforcement of Fire Regulations
Emily Cobb | September 8, 2022
Callie Aerni
Warren Wilson College (WWC) and its students have found themselves on thin ice after repeated fire violations. Regulations have been more severely put in place starting this fall semester. These several regulations include no items that have a heat source — such as microwaves and kettles — and no covering or tampering with the dorm smoke detectors. Many are under the impression that these are new rules, but that is not the case.
“They have always been the expectation," said Ralph "RJ" Chittams, Associate Dean for Student Life and Director of Residence Life. "The change is the severity in which they are being influenced.”
The penalty for tampering with the smoke detectors means potentially getting arrested on the spot, criminal charges against the culprit and the rehousing of all of the individuals living in said dorm. This rehousing can take anywhere from 30-40 days and students would be moved to off-campus housing.
The individual would face federal charges that WWC cannot interfere with. The severity of charges, punishment and conviction are not up to the college. In addition to these federal charges, students will also have ramifications from the school. If one is caught covering or tampering with a smoke head, it is a significant fine and one is one step away from being removed from the school according to Chittams.
“To have a safety net in place removes this responsibility from the students to do what they are supposed to do,” Chittams said.
There are no additional dorms for students to live in if the dorm has to be shut down and Chittams stated it should not be WWC’s job to provide them. It is up to the students to make the correct decisions and call out their neighbors if they see something wrong.
“I want people to be mindful of consequences, and as a campus, I do not know if consequences have ever been real – like real impactful,” Chittams said.
All fire code rules and regulations can be found in the student handbook. There are also fire safety rules for outdoor spaces that can be found in the handbook. If students have questions or concerns about any of the rules, Chittams advises students to talk to their RA or another resident life staff member.
There has been some discussion and pushback from students and parents about the unprecedented enforcement of fire safety rules. Some see them as having no grounds for the ban on items like microwaves.
Anna Sauerbrey, a freshman at WWC, lives in Sunderland. Sauerbrey is on Land Stewards crew and often comes back from her shifts wishing she could have an essential oil diffuser going to destress.
“I do understand why many of the rules are necessary,” Sauerbrey said. “However, I feel like compared to a lot of the regulations I see at my other friend’s colleges, our fire rules are considerably stricter and in some ways, they decrease my level of comfort.”
Comfort for an individual can sometimes rely on having humidifiers, essential oil diffusers, the ability to use appliances in one’s dorm like tea kettles and microwaves, decorations and more.
The fire department is wanting stricter enforcement of these rules because they have to sign off on every dorm in order for it to stay open. This signature means that the building is safe to live in. Due to WWC having violations in the past, especially smoking-related ones, it has put the fire department in the position of needing to stress these rules. There are several designated smoking areas students can use outside of the dorm if they smoke.
“It is not very hard to just go out and use those designated smoking areas the way they are intended,” said Lucy Crayton, a resident assistant (RA).
Crayton is a junior at WWC and has been an RA for two semesters. Crayton is currently the RA for the second floor of Sunderland and is on the soccer team.
The RAs will not perform random checks unless they smell smoke, have been tipped off or have reason to believe a fire rule has been violated. That being said, if they come across information that is severe in regards to the fire rules, they may show up to investigate with Public Safety.
The fire marshals will execute random checks throughout the year, sometimes with Public Safety. One example of a random check is when a fire alarm goes off in a dorm and they are clearing the building.
“If there is a fire and someone is injured or dies, it is the school's liability, it is my liability and it is also the Buncombe County Fire Marshal’s liability,” Chittams said.
Societal pressure, like WWC culture, may make it feel impossible to report violations. The pressure of fitting in can make reporting incidents feel as if one is overstepping or even acting as a poor friend or dorm mate. However, it is one's job as a growing individual and member of WWC to stand up for what is right.
One can also try to talk to the person violating the rules before reporting it to an RA, which is what both Chittams and Crayton recommended. This is key to dorms staying open because if a student or member of the school finds that a smoke head has been tampered with and resolves the situation, the dorms will not be shut down.
If one does bring their concerns to an RA or a student life or resident life member, they will be kept anonymous unless an investigation is launched or matters are very serious. Even then, their anonymity will be kept safe to those not involved in the situation and usually kept from the parties in question.
“We are not in the business of throwing someone else under the bus,” Chittams said.
Though these rules and punishments may seem extreme to some, the main reasoning is everyone’s on-campus safety. This is the responsibility of RA’s, student life, residence life and the fire marshals.
“This is for your community and violating the fire policy is not being a good community member, to your friends, to the school, to yourself even,” Crayton said.