Emergency Fire Procedures

If the fire alarm sounds, you need to immediately leave the building by means of the nearest available exit door if it is safe to exit your room. See the instructions below to know how to determine safety.

Before opening the door, see if it is hot by placing the palm of your hand against it.

1. If a door is hot, remain in the room.
   1. Call Campus Police at 5500 or Oklahoma Emergency number at (9)911 and notify dispatcher of street address, 2501 E. Memorial (Residence Hall name).
   2. Block entrance of smoke and hear into room by stuffing towels or blankets around door and air conditioning openings.
   3. Stay low near floor to avoid smoke and heat. Cover face with wet cloth if necessary to aid breathing. If necessary, open windows. DO NOT exit through upper-floor windows.
   4. REMAIN CALM. Firemen will get to you as soon as possible.
2. If the door is cool, open slightly and check for heavy smoke in corridor.
   1. If clear, proceed to nearest available exit.
   2. In light smoke, stay low near floor to avoid smoke and heat.
   3. Before leaving, wear shoes and coat; carry wet towel, if available, to aid breathing.
3. If corridor is too smoky to reach stairway, remain in room.
   1. Follow instructions in item #1, above.
4. When leaving building, go far enough to be clear of entire area.
   1. Proceed to the designated assembly area (to be determined by hall directors and disseminated to all residents).
   2. Report to designated hall director for roster check.
   3. Follow instructions.
   4. Re-enter building only after instructed to do so by housing staff.

Each hall director should determine an emergency fire evacuation plan. This information should be made available to and discussed by all residents at the beginning of each semester. Such fire emergency preplanning should include the following information.

1. Emergency fire procedures (see previous information).
2. A hall evacuation plan:
   1. What exits to use from each area of the residence hall.
   2. Where residents shall assemble after exiting and what persons shall be responsible for roster check-in to see that everyone is safely out of the residential areas.
3. Assistance for handicapped residents:
   1. Residents in wheelchairs or otherwise handicapped should be housed where they can be quickly evacuated in an emergency.
   2. If possible, other residents in the area should be alerted or assigned to assist handicapped students in emergencies.
   3. Be alert to students who are temporarily handicapped in emergencies.
   4. Residents with hearing handicaps may not wake up to alarm belts; residents with visual handicaps may encounter exit difficulties that require special assistance.
4. When to try to extinguish a fire by yourself:
   In many cases, even very small fires may quickly burn out of control unless immediate steps are taken to extinguish the flames. The fire extinguishers required and maintained in all residence halls are limited in their capacity and must be used properly to obtain maximum results. If the fire is already very large, you need to concentrate on evacuating the building rather than fighting the fire.

Generally speaking, fire extinguishers maintained in OC’s residence halls are properly operated as follows:

Remember the acronym P.A.S.S.

PULL the pin
AIM the nozzle at the base of the fire
SQUEEZE the handle
SWEEP the base of the fire with the stream of extinguishment