Fire Protection High Priority at Fordham

NEW YORK – Development and maintenance of Fordham’s fire protection plans, especially for the residence halls, is the highest priority of the University. All of the residence halls have modern, fully code-compliant fire alarm and emergency lighting systems. Although not required by the New York City Fire or Building Codes, all of our new or newly renovated residence halls (McMahon Hall at Lincoln Hall, Millennium and Hughes Halls at Rose Hill) are fully fire sprinklered. All other residence halls have sprinklers in any area required by the New York City Building and Fire Codes. We have plans to install full sprinklers in other residence halls on a scheduled basis. All residence halls have weekly inspections of the fire alarms and fire protection equipment as well as announced and unannounced fire drills for all occupants each semester. Buildings are totally evacuated on any alarm – real, test or false. In order to help clear students out of a building the resident assistants and resident directors in the dormitories are equipped with battery powered airhorns. While this policy creates some inconvenience, it emphasizes the importance of a fire alarm and helps reduce the incidence of false alarms. Student rooms are regularly inspected for electrical appliances which might cause fire hazards. The Security Department and Residential Life Department hold regular fire education sessions with all dormitory residents at the beginning of each school year with additional sessions scheduled as needed