Students who cook after drinking are being targeted in a new campaign brought by Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue. Posters, flyers, and beer mats with the slogan “I got first degree burns” are being placed throughout the University of Lincoln campuses, in a bid to reduce the amount of incidents caused by drunk students.
The message of the campaign is simple: “Don’t cook when drunk”. Last year, the fire service were called to the Courts 22 times, and while many were false alarms, there was “at least one serious incident” caused by students who had left cooking unattended.
Reports last year spoke of alarms being deliberately set off too. Each call out costs the taxpayer approximately £1,500 a time, meaning the Courts residents who have been involved have racked up at least £33,000 worth of costs for the taxpayer.
Mark Fowell, Community Fire Safety Advocate, says that one incident is too many. He says that the dangers of just one actual fire can range from “work and research being damaged to potentially life threatening incidents,” and recommends students avoid cooking by “having a sandwich or a take-away instead”.
Fowell also revealed plans for the future, with fire safety checks being held in the Courts and “hopefully other student accommodation in the future”, fitting after the incident at Brayford Quays in October 2009, where an chip pan caught fire.
He said he wants to see the scheme expand to private housing where “it isn’t currently a legal responsibility to have fire alarms, let alone safety checks,” and urged students to ensure their houses are as safe as possible. “Some landlords still won’t provide [fire alarms], students will have to take the information when they move out to private housing with them.”
For more information, there’s plenty available here.