By next fall, Brown will have some of the most fire-safe college buildings in the United States, according to David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services. The University plans to renovate 22 buildings this summer to comply with new state and city fire codes, he said.
Rhode Island recently updated its fire codes in response to the February 2003 Station nightclub fire in West Warwick that killed 100, Greene said. The state has set a time limit for institutions such as Brown to update their facilities to meet the new fire safety requirements.
Of the buildings to be renovated, Minden Hall poses the most serious fire safety issues. "The staircases in Minden aren't rated for fire safety and need to be closed off," Greene said.
The current layout of the staircases in Minden does not comply with state fire codes because it doesn't account for the "smoke potential," he said. The staircases are open to the hallway, which in the event of a fire would allow smoke to enter the stairs and prevent students from exiting safely. An enclosed staircase will provide students with a safer, smoke-free escape route, Greene said.
To enclose the staircases, architects will have to change the floor plan of the dorm. Specific changes will vary from floor to floor, but no private bathrooms will be removed from any of the rooms, said Richard Bova, director of residential life.
Some suites on the corners of the building, however, will lose their corridors to make room for the stairs. In these altered suites, students will have to walk through one room to get to the others, Bova said. Other suites located far from the stairs will remain unchanged.
Floor plans and occupancy charts for Minden during Segment II of the housing lottery were not available until the afternoon of the lottery due to last-minute planning for these renovations, which required approval from fire safety authorities.
However, the renovations did not interfere with the lottery and Minden rooms were available for Segment II as planned, Bova said. The changes did not decrease the total number of students housed in Minden, he said.
The inconvenience to students caused by the renovations is well worth the gain in fire safety, Greene said. "We try to minimize negative impacts on students, but the end result is a safer environment. That's more important to me than advanced warnings," he said.
In the 21 other buildings scheduled for renovation, fire safety additions will be relatively inconspicuous. Residential Life plans to update sprinklers and fire alarms to all of the dorms on Wriston Quad, as well as Slater Hall and West House, Bova said. The University hopes that most of the dorms will have a sprinkler and fire alarm in each room by next fall, he said.
A few dorms will also receive cosmetic repairs, Bova said. All of the dorms on Wriston will receive new windows, and Grad Center's first floor rooms will have new tiling. ResLife also plans to upgrade all of the flooring in New Pembroke 1, 2, 3 and 4.
