Although Pratt has been visiting some of the larger houses in East Lansing, such as co-ops, fraternity and sorority houses, to spread awareness, he said the work done by the department is not just a month-long exercise.

“For us, it’s not Campus Fire Safety awareness month, it’s fire safety year and fire safety career,” Pratt said.

There are four common factors found in fatal fires in college communities: Alcohol consumption, careless disposal of smoking materials, tampering with fire protection devices, like smoke detectors, and a lack of sprinkler systems.

Since 2000, more than 80 percent of fatal fires in college towns happened in off-campus housing, because of these four factors, Pratt said.

The leading cause of fires in college communities is arson, he said. However, fires can be caused by carelessness in the kitchen, and using flammable objects, such as Styrofoam cups and bottlecaps, as ashtrays.

Since students came back to the area three weeks ago, Pratt said there have been four fires from using dangerous products as ashtrays.

“Luckily, three of them were outside on decks,” Pratt said. “The fourth one, the worst of the four, was in a couch that someone threw a cigarette into on the side of a house and it burned up the couch and burned up the side of the house.”

Casey Taubitz, a theater senior, lives off campus in Woodside Manor Apartments, 910 Abbot Road. Taubitz said people smoking inside apartments in her building is a concern, but she tries to put it out of her mind.

“Students can be kind of careless, so you never know with that,” Taubitz said. “I try not to worry about that kind of thing too often.”

Taubitz said the three-level Woodside Manor was just redone, so the alarms and smoke detectors have been tested, but she still checks the batteries in the smoke detectors.

Pratt advised students throwing parties to designate a “sober partier” who could help stop risky behavior.

Fire safety also is important in residence halls on campus.

Chelsey Green, director of health and safety for the Residence Halls Association, said carelessness on residents’ part is the biggest safety issue.

“The biggest fire danger is overloading electrical outlets, and then cooking, which isn’t allowed but if there are burners and stuff, that’s a big safety issue,” Green said.

Items banned in residence halls include lit candles, burning incense, flammable wall decorations and cooking equipment outside of designated University Housing cooking facilities, according to the University Housing Terms and Conditions.