Every sleeping room is equipped with a smoke detector, located somewhere on the ceiling or high on the wall. This device is your personal fire alarm. If there is a fire in your room, the smoke will cause this alarm to sound, even if you are sleeping. The alarm will also sound if smoke enters the room from another area.

The smoke detector is your most important piece of personal safety equipment. If you remove the battery or disable the alarm, you leave yourself (and others) unprotected. If there is a fire while you are asleep, the smoke may render you unconscious in bed. Do not tamper with it, and report any problem with the detector immediately so it can be repaired.

Once the alarm is pulled, horns or sirens will sound throughout the building, warning everyone to leave the building. This building system is not connected to the smoke detector in your room, and will not cause the smoke detector to sound. The horns and sirens in the hallway have been designed to be loud enough for you to hear even when sleeping.   The fire alarm system is a key protector of your safety. Report any damaged pull stations immediately so they can be repaired and report anyone you see tampering with this equipment.

The larger buildings are also equipped with fire sprinkler systems. The fire sprinkler heads are located on ceilings and walls throughout the building. In the event of a fire, the sprinkler heads near the fire are activated and will put the fire out. Be careful not to damage these sprinkler heads, since they can flood a room with water and damage your possessions.

When a fire starts in a room, the spread of the fire and smoke can be delayed by many minutes by a closed door. It is important to keep the stairwell doors closed and not propped open, to keep smoke from spreading from a lower floor to higher floor and making it difficult for residents to safely leave the building. It is also important to close the door as you leave the room where a fire has started. This can allow the fire department to have extra minutes to put out the fire before it spreads.   Do not block open fire doors at any time.  Below are examples of what to do, and what not to do.