When a student moves into a house or apartment for the first time, there can be plenty of concerns — but for some, fire safety is not one of them.
Julie Bodwell, a third-year medical student who lives at Club Meridian Apartments in Okemos, said fire safety around her apartment is not a major concern because it has already been made fire resistant.
"There are plenty of smoke detectors and fire sprinklers around the apartment building that make it fireproof," Bodwell said. "It makes fire safety less of a top thing and more of a secondary thing with me."
On May 13, a Cornell University student was killed in a house fire in an Ithaca, N.Y., neighborhood.
East Lansing Fire Marshal Robert Pratt, said there are always more ways for residents to keep their homes safe from fires.
"The most common cause of fires are residents keeping food on the stove and forgetting to turn off the stove after they have used it," Pratt said. "People should pay attention to house appliances or other things that could cause fires, and they should also know fire exits around the house and if they are accessible."
Pratt said fires can happen sporadically in the city.
"It really varies to when we see a fire occur," Pratt said. "We could go a year without seeing a major fire, or we could see several fires occur within a short time frame. It all varies."
In June, a house on Evergreen Avenue owned by Hagan Realty Inc. was destroyed by a fire, which also damaged two neighboring homes.
Matt Hagan, a property manager with Hagan Realty, said the company tries to make sure its homes are fireproofed. The company has not added any additional fire safety measures.
"We lease over 100 places and have been in business for 40 years, and that was our first major fire," Hagan said. "We are still doing our annual house inspections to make sure the house is fireproof, like checking (to make sure) materials aren't too close to furnaces or water heaters to make sure events like this don't happen again."
In October, a major house fire also destroyed a home on University Drive.
Dustin Nowacek — a third-year medical student who lives in Berrytree Apartments in Okemos — said informing residents about fire safety is not usually an apartment complex's top priority.
"DTN (management company) mentioned it in their lease, but it was not talked about a whole lot when I signed my lease," Nowacek said.
Even though fire safety was not thoroughly discussed while living at Berrytree Apartments, he said he still did plenty of things to prevent fires in his apartment.
"When I go home, I always make sure the stove is turned off and appliances are unplugged," Nowacek said. "I don't think discussing fire safety is a big thing because I'm already doing things to prevent a fire without someone telling me how."
Robert MacPherson, owner of a rental home on Albert Avenue said he doesn't think it's necessary to actively promote fire safety among his residents.
"If they can read, then they can understand," MacPherson said.
