On any given day there are about 40,000 faculty, staff, students and visitors on The University of Western Ontario campus. Ensuring each person’s safety is not an easy feat.
Siebens Drake Research Institute biochemistry lab technician Paula Pittock, right, exchanges her fire warden blue vest for a new one with Building Emergency Team labelling. Western Fire Protection Technician Bill McLinchey, left, and Fire Safety Officer Rob Fournier gave vests to BET members during an appreciation luncheon held May 22.
On May 22, Western thanked its 486 Building Emergency Team (BET) members for helping to keep the community safe.
Along with the Campus Community Police Service, Fire Safety and Emergency Management, and various safety committees on campus, the faculty and staff volunteers who make up BET are “a critical component to safety at our university,” says Gitta Kulczycki, Vice-President (Resources & Operations).
“It is part of a very large network that keeps all of us safe in this community,” she says.
The recent emergency exercise held on campus reiterated the importance of having a well-coordinated effort when responding to a critical incident, she added.
Four years ago, Western introduced the role of fire wardens or designated volunteers to assist with building evacuations during an emergency. More recently, the title has changed to BET.
With about 240 evacution drills on campus each year, exit times have improved dramatically, says Kulczycki, noting it takes an average of three minutes to fully evacuate a building. To demonstrate the importance of a speedy exit, a video was shown of the live burn of a mock-residence room held on University College hill during Orientation Week last September.
Before firefighters or emergency services arrive on the scene, the BET is the first to respond in the case of an emergency, says Western Fire Prevention Officer Frank Faroni.
“When the bell rings, it really comes down to people like you to get people out,” he says.
Elgin Austen, director of Campus Community Police Service, says the university is working to improve emergency communications, including installing fire panels with PA system capabilities in many of the new buildings, installing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones, and developing a new e-mail address for questions or concerns related to fire safety.
Did you know?
Western’s campus is made up of:
· 93 buildings totaling 9,000,000 square feet of floor space
· Over one million fire detection devices
· More than 5,000 fire extinguishers
· 25 kilometres of fire hose
· 486 Emergency Team Members