Fires, Asbestos, and Rapists, Oh My!

As you scramble from the shower after hearing a fire alarm and stand outside your dorm in flip flops (and hopefully a towel), no doubt you have considered fire alarms more of a prankster’s delight than a constructive use of your Sunday night.

But in 2001 alone, The Crimson reported a fire in the Eliot House Grille and an unidentified naked man in a Cabot bathroom. Last year, a convicted rapist lurked the Mather hallways posing as a fire inspector, and a burst toilet pipe flooded rooms and destroyed ceilings in Cabot.

So while fire alarms might just seem like an annoyance, they might be good practice for when your House actually tries to kill you.

hot stuff

The Harvard Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) website says that arson is responsible for about 33 percent of dormitory fires nationwide, but Associate Dean of Residential Life Suzy M. Nelson writes in an e-mail that cooking-related incidents are Harvard’s most common cause of fires.

The EHS website also contains an impressive list of fire-related information sheets and a 35-page emergency evacuation plan (who knew of the acronym RACE, for instance? Rescue others, pull an Alarm, Close all windows and doors, Evacuate the building).

In 2003, then-Dean of Harvard College Harry R. Lewis ‘68 decided to ban usage of fireplaces in students’ rooms citing safety concerns. The Crimson reported that students were furious and demanded the right to make s’mores and wax political (or simply procrastinate) in front of a cozy blaze.

cough, cough!

Another potential hazard lurking in the dorms—or grandma’s house—is asbestos. This fibrous rock, mined (not surprisingly) in Canada, emits airborne particles when processed. After years of inhalation, the particles can cause mesothelioma or other lawsuit-inducing cancers.

However, it’s important to note that asbestos is only harmful when the materials it’s in are in bad condition. The EHS website says that “with very few exceptions (e.g., specialty high temperature equipment) asbestos-containing materials are no longer installed in Harvard buildings.”

Nelson writes in an e-mail that “risk from dangerous levels of asbestos...is usually associated with occupational exposure.”

According to Cabot House Building Manager Gene Ketelhohn, asbestos in his House is usually found in pipe insulation, and he doubts that any is left in public areas, if at all, thanks to repairs and renovations throughout the years.

“If there’s a pipe that has insulation on it, that we know is asbestos [insulation] because we’ve tested it, then we have to have the insulation properly removed by a special company,” he says. “Generally speaking, when we do those kinds of things, we do the whole room at the same time.”

piggybackers’ delight

As for dorm security, FM found that on a Saturday night, anyone looking like a respectable twenty-something college student could enter the unlocked Lowell House gates (past a guard, of course). From there, they could sneak by the card swiper (no Domna here) and enjoy a meal without looking out of place.

Pia P. Dandiya ’09 never lets people “piggyback” into her dormitory who she doesn’t know, yet says seeing unfamiliar younger people in the building isn’t bothersome.

“If they look my age, and look like a student at the college, I’m not overly suspicious, unless their behavior makes me feel other ways,” she says.

So those could be two freshmen sitting at the end of your table, or clever MIT students out on a late-night jog who got the munchies, or maybe even axe murderers. But don’t get any ideas. We wouldn’t want to make you paranoid.