Fire Factor turned up the heat this weekend in its fight for fire prevention awareness. The biannual fire safety event was held Friday in Urbana.

The event was sponsored by several agencies, including the Champaign and Urbana police departments, the Fire Service Institute and University Housing. Fraternity and sorority housing managers, as well as residential advisors and directors, were required by Certified Housing to attend.

The event began with a live fire demonstration. Two cubicles were set up in the Florida Avenue Residence hall basketball courts, each simulating a dorm room. The first demonstration showed what a fire would be like in a room without a built-in sprinkler system. Eddie Bain, Investigation and Prevention Director for the Fire Service Institute, led the demonstration.

A flare was dropped into a wastebasket, and within seconds, flames leapt up to the ceiling. After about a minute, the entire room was engulfed, and black smoke began to billow out of the cubicle. At this point, bystanders began feeling the immense heat of the flames and backed away from them.

Within two minutes, the entire room had heated to ignition temperature, which can range from 1500 to 1800 degrees. Bain stressed that at this point, there is no chance of survival, and he directed on-hand firefighters to put out the blaze, revealing the widespread damage.

The couch and chair in the room had been turned completely into ash in less than two minutes.

“I couldn’t believe how quickly the room went up,” said Bridget Anselmo, junior in Business. “I’ve never seen smoke like that, and that was in a tiny room.”

A second fire was then set in the room with a sprinkler system. Within twenty seconds, the sprinkler system was set off, and the flames were extinguished.

“Your stuff is all wet, but that’s a good thing when it’s on fire,” Bain said.

The Fire Factor program was created to educate college students about the dangers of residential fires. After the dorm demonstration, the participating groups completed several other activities including a hunt for hazards, a tool box explanation, a search and rescue demonstration and an evacuation exercise.

Dena Schumacher, public information officer at the Champaign Fire Department, said the planning of Fire Factor takes a year. After each event, the team reviews any feedback, trying to continually improve. The next Fire Factor will be held in April.

“We give ourselves about a month off, then we begin to plan our spring event,” Schumacher said.

Anselmo said she plans to present the information she learned to her sorority.

“I was shocked to learn how many fire hazards there are, especially the little things you would never think of,” she said. “Today was really eye-opening.”