Franklin Pierce fire needs more support
By Sam Powell
Franklin Pierce has been having multiple issues with fire safety, causing distress and frustration from students. Smoke detectors failing in multiple buildings, fire alarms not being responded for 45 minutes, and a dryer fire in freshman housing have been a few of the issues that have occurred in the spring semester alone.
Many students have voiced their concerns on the school app Raven Nation, along with conversation spread amongst students and faculty about the lack of fire safety.
One freshman Hannah Swain said in an in-person interview, “Just two days before the fire in my building, they told us the smoke detectors were not working. It’s just scary to think I could have been trapped and not even known about the fire.”
Picture Credit: Instagram fpufire
Some students have blamed the school fire department for the lack of fire safety. Sophomore Chris Blimberg said in an in-person interview, “I spent at least a half an hour in the freezing weather waiting for someone to show up at 3:00 in the morning about a fire alarm. If that was a serious situation, the building could’ve been burnt down before they even got there”.
In response to this, one school fire department student David Luck in a phone interview said, “We barely get any funding to help us prepare for situations like this. When the fire happened, no one was even remotely ready for a serious situation like that.”
The students’ concerns are certainly valid, and the university must take fire safety much more seriously. The school has taken some small steps towards improvements, installing new smoke detectors in a few buildings, including dorms in freshman and sophomore area, but the changes should not stop there.
The school should provide a larger budget for the school fire department, and consider major changes to the fire department, including at least one student on call at the station in Rindge at all times to allow for quicker support. If the school wants to show that they support fire safety, they need to start by supporting the people who will be the ones fighting the fire.
