There was a fire on the corner of Second and John this Saturday. Most students didn’t get another emergency alert, but not to worry, no one was injured and they have already found the cause: Fire Factor.

On Saturday April 2nd, 55 students representing both privately certified housing and university housing participated in the 13th annual Fire Factor at Beckwith Hall. From 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. students like Tim Schmidt, sophomore in Engineering and Interfraternity Council director of housing, interacted with firefighters and learned about fire safety through hands-on experience.

“I expected it to be boring,” said Schmidt, “It turned out to be a lot of fun.”

To start off the day, students watched a simulation demonstrating the effectiveness of sprinklers during a fire. Two mock dorm rooms were set up; the one with sprinklers contained the fire, while the one without did not fare as well.

“It was literally insane to see how quickly the one room burned without the sprinkler,” remembers Audrey Phillips, junior in AHS and former Chi Omega house manager who attended a Fire Factor last spring. “It made me realize that for the rest of my life, if I am living in a building, I will check for sprinklers first. “

Janet Maupin, Champaign Deputy Fire Marshal and founder and co-chair of Fire Factor sees the demonstration as a great teaching tool.

“It’s really effective because you feel the heat and see the smoke,” she said. “Everyone has to back off.”

This past Saturday’s Fire Factor was the first to take place in a vacant building, allowing for more smoke use.

Started in 2004, Fire Factor aims to communicate fire risk and behavior to students through education and hands-on experience. Held once a semester, students attending the Fire Factor Academy practice proper fire extinguisher use, learn evacuation techniques and how to spot hazards in their own residencies. It is a requirement that any chapter on campus with a private certified house send a representative each year to help educate chapters, prevent risks and learn how to handle worst-case scenarios. Deputy Maupin, who says fraternities statistically lead the way with fires nationally, agrees with this policy.

“With such a large greek system here at the University, it shows how important it is to get folks through a program like this,” said Deputy Maupin.

In the five and a half years since it began, over 800 students have attended Fire Factor, and Deputy Maupin says that they can see it is working. Firefighters who have come upon scenes will speak with people who went through the program and because they did, they handled the situation correctly, said Deputy Maupin.

As the program continues, the committee will continue to stress the importance of peer education.

“It is not good enough for a chapter to only have one member prepared to handle a fire,” said Lauren Eiten, junior in LAS and president of Panhellenic Council. “What if that member is out of town or at the library? Chapters need to share the information with their executive board as well as all those living in the chapter house.”

Schmidt, who also serves as the Internal Vice President of Pi Kappa Alpha, said his chapter plans on having a presentation after one of their upcoming chapter meetings. Phillips set up a PowerPoint presentation to educate her chapter after she finished the program.

“We challenge (students) to be that leader and set a good example,” said Deputy Maupin.