Occupants of EMU Suite 1, which houses several student programs including Oregon State Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG), the Survival Center and The Student Insurgent newspaper, received a scare last week when they were informed that fire code violations in the office could lead to temporary closure.
At a meeting on April 4, the EMU Board discussed a list of violations in Suite 1 and decided that the door would be padlocked if the violations were not cleared up by 5 p.m. on April 14.
Much to the occupants’ relief, an inspection by University Fire Protection Manager Chuck Campbell on Thursday afternoon turned up no violations serious enough to justify closing the office down.
Campbell said the office is in much better condition than it was when he first inspected it early in winter term. Although there are no serious violations in the office now, Campbell said he’d still like to see the crowded office cleaned up a bit more.
EMU Facilities Director Dana Winitzky scheduled the walk-through with Campbell after several students came to Wednesday night’s meeting of the EMU Board House Committee to ask for more storage options or more time to clear up the violations.
Many members expressed confusion because a letter that outlined the violations made it seem as though all boxes of papers were a fire hazard.
When the suite was inspected in February, there were more than 10 violations. Although most have been cleared up, a letter from Winitzky to EMU Board House Committee Chairman David Goward outlines three violations that were not corrected as of Wednesday night. “The three most critical issues for the Fire Protection Manager have not been dealt with are: 1) Remove all waste combustibles including but not limited to boxed, paper, cardboard, etc. 2) Remove all items stored above drop ceiling 3) Remove wood slab from exit way and discontinue using for bulletin board (sic),” the letter reads.
The letter states that the above items create an issue with “load” in the space that would be catastrophic in a fire.
During a heated discussion, Zach Basaraba, co-director of the Survival Center, told the board that the boxes containing copies of the Insurgent and other paper items can’t be removed because they are used on a daily basis. He also said they would not remove the wood slab from the front of the office because it has been a part of campus history for 37 years.
Liz Karas, the campus organizer for OSPIRG, echoed those sentiments and said the groups use all the papers in the office and cannot get rid of them entirely because everything was purchased with student fee money.
Winston Friedman, another Survival Center co-director, said the groups in the office try to be sustainable by recycling all their paper and re-using paper from other places on campus.
During Thursday’s inspection, Campbell said the boxes of papers are not a problem as long as they are stacked neatly and tightly and are as full as possible. Boxes that are nearly empty or stacked loosely will lead to a fire that is “infinitely more intense” because the fire has more oxygen to burn, Campbell said. Tight stacks will burn mostly on the outside edges.
“It’s common sense, really,” he said.
Campbell also told the occupants they could keep the wood slab outside the office as long as it does not block the exit. They can even continue to post flyers on it, as long as they overlap as little as possible.
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