Fire Safety and Emergency Response
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Current News
September 8, 2009: The UNC Department of Public Safety, Environmental Health and Safety and the Chapel Hill Fire Department will co-sponsor a Fire Safety Fair to be held in UNC's Polk Place Wed., Sept. 16, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. The fair is part of a National Fire Safety Month, reminding the campus community that "Fire Safety...is a Part of Living."Activities planned for the event include fire extinguisher training, a "crawl" through Chapel Hill's smoke house, and trying on fire gear. Other agencies and departments include the Carolina Burn Center and the department of Housing and Residential Education. There will also be free giveaways, free food (including ice cream provided by Carolina Dining at Lenoir Hall and food from Fire House Subs and Papa Johns Pizza), and a drawing for a free dinner for two at Brixx Pizza and Carolina Coffee Shop.
UNC Department of Public Safety contact: Randy Young, (919) 962-1502
Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life Contact: Jenny Levering, (919) 962 - 8298
Chapel Hill Fire Department: Matt Lawrence, (919) 969 - 2006
UNC Environmental Health & Safety: Kitty Lynn, (919) 962 - 5728
March 09, 2009: Increased Fire Danger. Due to warmer weather and dry and breezy conditions, fine fuels such as pine needles, twigs, grass, and leaves are becoming increasingly dry. Given the large amount of these fuels currently present, the Fire Danger is quite high at this time. This is especially true here on campus. Please exercise extreme caution when handling possible ignition sources such as matches and cigarettes, and please ensure that all ignition sources are completely extinguished and are discarded properly. Since 2001 over 85% of all grass and forest fires were caused by humans.
If you spot a grass or brush fire, call the local fire department immediately.
February 23, 2009: Increased Fire Danger this Week. As winds continue to be gusty and relative humidity levels continue to drop, fine fuels such as pine needles, twigs, grass, and leaves are becoming increasingly dry. Given the large amount of these fuels currently present, the Fire Danger is quite high at this time. This is especially true here on campus. Please exercise extreme caution when handling possible ignition sources such as matches and cigarettes, and please ensure that all ignition sources are completely extinguished and are discarded properly. Since 2001 over 85% of all grass and forest fires were caused by humans.
Protecting the Physically Impaired During an Evacuation Notice
This document may also be viewed in Adobe Acrobat format.If you are physically impaired it is important that you learn about fire safety, plan ahead for emergencies, and be aware of your own capabilities and limitations. Outlined below are a number of measures to provide for your protection, if an evacuation notice is given for your building.
Many locations on-campus will allow direct access to the outside from your floor, or you can relocate horizontally to another building or addition. If you are unable to leave a building during an evacuation notice: remain calm, do not use the stairs or elevators.
People unable to leave the building will be directed to an area of rescue. These areas were identified by the Health and Safety Office by training the Departmental Emergency Coordinators and Evacuation Monitors. The Departmental Emergency Coordinators maintains a list of people that are physically impaired and their locations. During an evacuation notice the Departmental Emergency Coordinator or Evacuation Monitors will conduct a floor-to-floor sweep of the building, direct people unable to evacuate to an area of rescue, and provide to Command the locations of persons unable to leave the building.
Areas of rescue are:
- Seek refuge in a room with a window, door, and telephone. Call 911 to report your location, and stay there until help arrives.
- If staying in place poses a threat to safety, seek alternate areas of rescue that include:
- Call 911 to report your location
- Refuge in a corridor remote of incident
- Refuge in a portion of a stairway landing
- Refuge in an elevator lobby with fire doors separating the elevator lobby from the incident
If you need assistance in planning for an evacuation, please call the Fire Safety Officer.
Safety First UNC Newsletter
Use these links to view issues of the newsletter from the fire safety section of UNC's Environment, Health and Safety Department in Adobe Acrobat format.Spills on Campus
Environmental fact sheet: Cleanup of Laboratory Chemical SpillsAlso see the Guide for Chemical Spill Response Planning in Laboratories prepared by the American Chemical Society's Task Force on Laboratory Waste Management.