Fire Protective Paints would increase student safety
Bill proposes fire-proof paint for dorms
By: Borana Greku
Posted: 3/5/08
Colleges would be required to paint dorm rooms with fire-resistant paint if a state bill aiming to improve on-campus safety passes on Beacon Hill.
The Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security is considering the regulation to increase dorm safety because more students than ever before are living on campus, Nick Puleo, spokesman for Sen. Steven Panagiotakos, a Lowell Democrat, said in an email.
“In these situations we see great numbers of people living in a relatively small area, and extra precautions need to be taken when accepting the responsibility to provide housing for so many,” he said.
The paint would increase student safety because it helps slow the spread of fire through a building, giving students more time to react and evacuate during a fire, Puleo said.
“In the instance of a fire, what we’re really looking at here — in many cases — are valuable seconds that could mean the difference between life and death,” he said.
To meet the bill’s standards, colleges would have to repaint all dorm walls with the new paints, he said. While the exact cost of doing this is unknown, Puelo said he thinks the cost would be minimal because colleges already must pay to repaint dorm rooms as part of annual upkeep.
“The bill asks them to replace their current products with ones more attuned to the public safety needs of students,” he said.
Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said he could not comment on the university’s position on the bill, but said administrators are aware of the new paints and are waiting to “see what happens” with the proposed legislation. BU has made fire safety a priority since two fires in nearby off-campus apartments resulted in the deaths of three students last spring.
The proposed law would not affect off-campus student housing, though buildings near South Campus owned by BU and private owners are often similar in structure and age. Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences senior Christopher Bickford, who lived in one of the off-campus apartments that caught fire last year, said he thinks mandating fireresistant paint is a good idea.
“I think the concept’s good. It would just make everything a little safer,” he said. “BU was very accommodating. I think the university did a good job, especially with the fires last year.” Bickford said he thinks the university effectively prevents on-campus fires by not allowing candles or other hazardous materials in dorms. SAR freshman Torri Gibson said fire-resistant paint would not necessarily make her feel safer, because dorm rooms are filled with other flammable materials. “There are so many things in a dorm room that could easily catch on fire, so I’m not sure how much of a solution fire-resistant paint is,” she said. Gibson said whether rooms are painted in the fire-resistant paint would not affect her housing decision.
“I’m going to choose housing based on location, availability and where my friends are living, not because a certain building has fire-resistant paint,” she said.
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