As the alarm sounded in McKinney Hall on Saturday afternoon, students marched out of the building and waited on the sidewalk about 30 feet from the building. A few of the students complained about their naps being interrupted and were positive that the fire alarm was nothing to be worried about.

When the students re-entered the building, several residence hall room doors had been left wide open and the smell of burnt popcorn lingered in the men’s side of the hall. Although the evacuation turned out to be a false alarm, some believe the students should take a little more precaution.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is seriously urging college students to brush up on fire safety. Sure, everyone learned to stop, drop and roll in first grade, but now that students are on their own, the NFPA suggests they learn how to keep safe from fire at home, as well as at school.

The first tip the NFPA offers students is, “If students hear a fire alarm, they should leave immediately, close doors behind them, and take their room keys with them in the event that they can’t escape, they may need to return to their room(s).”

The safety officer at Eastern, Gary Hanebrink, said that a majority of residence halls are still about 10 years away from getting a new sprinkler system. The Eastern safety officer is in charge of overseeing fire prevention and safety, fire alarms and detectors, hazardous waste materials and the safety of hall workers on campus.

The Residence Halls that still need a sprinkler system include: Thomas, Taylor, Lawson, McKinney, Weller, Ford, and Stevenson Halls.

Stephen Shrake, head of Eastern’s Facilities Planning and Management, said, “Sprinkler systems have been installed in Pemberton Hall, Carman Hall, Greek Court buildings, and University Court buildings. Planning is in process for Andrews, Lawson, Lincoln and Douglas.”

Shrake said that Housing provides funding for the residential sprinkler systems. Installing sprinkler systems in all of the residential buildings is projected to cost between $8 and $10 million.

“Because we only have the summer months to complete the sprinkler installation, it will take us until 2013 to complete all of them,” Shrake said.

Last Thursday, smoke from a construction area set off the fire alarm and the building was evacuated.

“I wasn’t aware of the alarm being set of last week, but I can say that it does happen occasionally due to construction activities,” Shrake said. “Contractors and EIU workers are required to notify our work control when cutting or welding activities take place so that the alarms can be monitored closely, but occasionally it does not happen.”

“The root cause (of starting a fire in residence halls) is cooking, including overcooking food in microwaves, and electrical devices in the rooms,” Hanebrink said.

“(Students should) avoid clustering of wires in the rooms. And no lit candles,” he advised.

Charleston Fire Chief Kriss Phipps answered a few burning questions students might have about fire safety in the dorms.

He said that cooking and horseplay, like throwing a football in the hallway, sets off the most fire alarms.

He also strongly advises that students pull their doors shut upon leaving the building during a fire alarm.

Phipps said the residence hall doors are called “one-hour” rated doors. Because the doors and doorframes are made of heavier materials, they burn slower and contain fire much longer.

Not closing the room door could spread fire to the hallway or fill the hallway with smoke. Even leaving the windows open could be hazardous during a fire.

When asked for some advice about what students should do during a fire alarm, Phipps laughed and said, “Well, when that alarm goes off, please leave the building.”

He also said that students could be fined for not leaving the building if an alarm goes off.

“If a firefighter got hurt looking for someone who wanted to sleep in, that’s a problem,” he said.

Phipps said the fine for not leaving during a fire alarm is usually up to the university.

“EIU does a very good job of maintaining their system,” Phipps said. “EIU has done an excellent job at keeping on-campus students safe.”

When asked for advice on how students should stay safe in the residence halls, Phipps said he had hoped that students had had training in the past as kids, but didn’t offer much more information that pertain only to college students.