Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services set fire to a mock dorm room on the Campus Green Wednesday to educate students about how quickly a fire could spread.
“This demonstration was to show how quickly a dorm room can actually catch fire and completely flashover,” said Sean Gray, a Cobb County fire engineer.
While the dorm caught fire, Gray spoke to a crowd of students about how to prevent fires and what to do if they occur. He said it usually takes about 11 seconds for a smoke detector to go off and just more than two minutes for a room to become engulfed in flames. “I would say don’t burn candles in your room, be careful when you’re cooking, and close the door behind you,” Gray said. “That’s the biggest thing.”
Firefighters stood by to extinguish the blaze, soaking the “dorm” and parts of the lawn that had also caught fire.
“I learned that only 52 people died last year from dorm fires, but the injuries were up in the thousands,” said Steven Baskin, a junior studying Psychology.
Christopher VanDevere, a junior studying Communication, said the event taught him to “be more fire safety conscious.”
