We are pleased that the fire suppression systems in five halls are complete and operational. There are now sprinkler heads throughout the building, in student rooms, closets, corridors and public areas. This system will greatly enhance residents' safety while living in the hall. Sadly, there have been very damaging—even fatal—fires on campuses in this country, fires which might have been avoided by up-to-date, intact fire safety systems like the ones implemented in these halls.

What You Can Do
The success of this system in protecting you depends partly on your commitment to respect the system and the safety rules of the residence halls. Each sprinkler head has a glass tube, which can be broken by a blow or intense heat; to protect the heads from such damage, each one is covered by a metal cage. Follow the guidelines below to help keep the sprinkler heads and other parts of the system intact so that they can do their job of protecting you:

• Do not remove or tamper with the cage protecting a sprinkler head, or any part of the system.
• Do not hang ANYTHING from a sprinkler head or the cage around it, or from any other part of the fire suppression equipment, including the pipes.
• Keep a clearance of 18” around sprinkler heads, including in closets.
• Keep sources of heat away from the sprinkler heads.
• Avoid hitting the sprinkler heads when moving items into, out of, or around a room.
• Do not engage in sports or horseplay that could result in anything striking a sprinkler head anywhere in the residence hall. An incident in West Quad during the spring of 2006 where a soccer ball damaged a sprinkler head resulted in tens of thousands of dollars of damage to the building and students' belongings. This incident greatly impacted other residents in two floors of WQ, who had to move out of their rooms for a short period of time right before the beginning of finals week.
• Report any damaged or missing sprinkler head cages (or other damaged components) to FIX-IT (3-4948) immediately.

You can further contribute to fire safety in your hall by adhering to the guidelines identified in the ResHall InfoSeries, Residence Hall Fire & Electrical Safety Guide, and in your Community Living at Michigan handbook.

Any student involved in vandalism—including intentional activation—of any fire and life safety equipment will be referred to the Office of Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) for violation of the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities, and may be subject to legal proceedings as well. Consequences to students found responsible for such vandalism will be serious: they will be assessed financial restitution and may be suspended from the University. This is a matter of life and death.

What You Should Know

• Only sprinkler heads directly activated by heat, fire or damage will dispense water. That is, the activation of one head near a fire will not cause other heads to dispense water if they are not also in the area of a fire.
• When a sprinkler head is activated, large amounts of water will pour out. The water cannot be stopped until the system is shut off (after the Department of Public Safety determines that it is safe to do so.)
• The amount of water dispensed by an activated sprinkler head is significant. Flooding will extend to nearby rooms on the same floor, as well as to rooms on lower levels.

We strongly recommend that you insure your personal property for the time you are living in the residence halls. Your parents’ or guardians' homeowner’s insurance policy may or may not already provide such coverage. If not, you may arrange to add a provision, or to take out a renter’s insurance policy. A list of insurance agencies in Ann Arbor is available from the Housing Information Office.

University Housing is proud to be offering this state-of-the-art fire suppression system. Installation of similar systems is scheduled for our other halls within the next few years.

Please direct any questions about the fire suppression system to Bob Pruzak, Housing Design Service Project Coordinator at 734-763-0334, or Ian Steinman, University Fire Marshal at 734-764-6185.