Ever get annoyed by being woken up by the fire alarm in the middle of the night because the neighbor down the hall burned popcorn? Well,there’s no need to worry about that anymore. Thanks to the Safe-T-Sensors, there will be virtually no microwave fires and fewer false alarms.
“This program is really useful because a relatively small amount of money will help a large amount of people,” Assistant Director of Environmental Health and Safety for Fire Safety on campus, Jon Brill said. The Safe-T-Sensors are valuable additions to student housing because the most common type of household fires is related to cooking.
By the end of the semester, every room on campus containing a microwave will have a Safe-T-Sensor installed. Traditional housing has already received the Safe-T-Sensors to install and so has The College Arms apartments. To install a sensor, a student places the magnetized sensor on the side of the microwave that has the vent, plugs the control box into a surge protector, and plugs the microwave cord into the control box. The Safe-T-Sensors should remain in rooms even during breaks. Students are responsible for any Safe-T-Sensors missing.
During room checks in February, Resident Assistants will check each room to ensure that all students have installed the sensors properly.
“I think it’s a good idea [to install the device] to stop little incidents that Public Safety [officers] would have to come out for,” an RA for traditional housing, Ali Imboden said.
The sensor works by sending a message and shutting the microwave off if there is fire, smoke, or burned food. Because of this, deaths, injuries, and damage to microwaves and other belongings are prevented.
After the Safe-T-Sensor turns the microwave off, its auto re-set button turns the power back on after a period of time. The flashing LED allows the user to know that the Safe-T-Sensor is keeping track of the microwave.
“The sensors allow students to have a device to prepare food safely,” Director of Housing Services, Peter Galloway said.
West Chester University received the Safe-T-Sensors by applying for the FEMA grant. This is the second grant that FEMA awarded WCU in the last few years. The first grant, awarded in April 2007, issued fire shield surge strips for all traditional residence halls and on-campus apartments. It also distributed Safe-T-Elements for stovetops in South Campus apartments, the Village, and some common area kitchens in residence halls. The Safe-T-Elements also stop potential fires.
“There are not a whole lot of grants and receiving two grants is really quite fortunate,” director of Environmental Health and Safety, Gail Fellows, said.
Within the last calendar year, approximately 150 alarms were set off. With the help of Safe-T-Sensors, this number is expected to drop.
“We hope to see a reduction of fire alarms because the sensor will help prevent false alarms,” Brill said.
In addition to a decrease in microwave fires, another huge benefit of the Safe-T-Sensors is that the fire department won’t be called in unnecessarily for false alarms, allowing them to be able to respond to other calls.
Although students living off-campus will not be issued Safe-T-Sensors, they can still prevent fires by not leaving food unattended in microwaves and keeping microwaves and stoves clean.
In order to give feedback on the Safe-T-Sensors, students can fill out surveys near the end of the semester. If students have any questions about the Safe-T-Sensors, they can contact the Office of Residence Life and Housing Services in 202 Lawrence Center.
Elana Beckett is a second-year student majoring in English with a minor in creative writing. She can be reached at EB733776@wcupa.edu.