Efforts to safeguard Tufts' dorms and students from fires continued over the summer, as Haskell, Carmichael, and Wren halls were all outfitted with sprinkler systems. The University aims to outfit all residence halls with the devices by 2004.
The project has taken several years to complete because most of the work has been done during the summer to avoid disrupting students. All dorms are equipped with smoke detectors and fire alarm systems, but the sprinkler systems required the installation of additional piping.
The reduced risk of death during a fire when sprinklers are in place is what motivated Tufts to install them, said University Fire Marshall Perry Cayton.
"The sprinklers would prevent fire from spreading to other areas and give the students a chance to evacuate the building," he said. "A sprinkler system protects the property and would hold the fire in check. It gets the population of residents to evacuate without causing a lot of smoke."
The combination of smoke detectors and sprinklers decreases risk of death during a fire by 98.5 percent, according to Life Safety Fire Protection, a company that sells sprinklers. This is a 48.5 percent increase over prevention by smoke detectors alone.
Though the state does not mandate sprinkler systems in dorms, Cayton said that Tufts has made an increasing effort to do so over the last five years. Sprinklers were installed in dorms order of highest priority, starting with small wood-frame residences.
The systems were then installed in combination brick and wood buildings and will next be added to cement and concrete buildings, where fires spread more slowly.
Sprinklers will be put into Hodgdon and Blakely halls next summer, which temporarily leaves Houston, Hill, Tilton, Bush, and Lewis halls without systems.
"It takes a lot of planning so that we can go in with a unified approach," Cayton said. "The sprinklers in the fire detection systems are put in safely, the main things to make sure they're operating properly."
The price tag similar sprinkler systems is usually one percent of the cost of the building, according to the US Fire Association (USFA). The department of deferred maintenance is funding the project at Tufts.
Sprinklers become active when heat from a fire raises the system's temperature anywhere between 155 degrees and 165 degrees Fahrenheit. At that point, the glass tube will break and water will discharge from the sprinkler head.
The systems, which are activated only by high temperatures, will not be subject to false or pulled alarms. Tufts experienced problems two years ago when sprinklers accidentally went off in the Hillsides apartments, and students had to be temporarily relocated because of flooding. But Cayton said that the benefits of sprinklers outweigh the accidental costs.
According to the USFA, 1,700 fires hit college campuses nationwide each year, including a large dorm fire two years ago at Seton Hall University in Orange, NJ that killed three students and injured dozens. Tufts' decision to install sprinklers, however, came before this incident.
The USFA said that student carelessness, such as cigarettes left burning, are the usual causes of campus fires. Statistically, sprinkler installation reduces the number of injuries from campus fires. At Heidelberg College in Tiffin, OH, sprinklers controlled a blaze that broke out in a 93-year-old residence hall. No one was injured.
"The University felt for safety. They wanted to have a proactive approach on sprinklers," Cayton said.
