Safety Policies and Procedures Manual
Chapter 8: Fire Safety

Fire Alarms

SPPM 8.25

For more information contact:
   WSU Fire Marshal
   509-335-8548

1.0    Required Compliance

All persons must exit a building during fire alarms. Persons requiring assistance must evacuate to a predesignated area of refuge and wait for assistance, in accordance with the department/unit fire evacuation plan. (See also SPPM 8.27.) Building elevators do not function during a fire alarm. Emergency responders and authorized WSU employees are exempt from this requirement.

Fire fatality statistics indicate that deaths occur because people are apathetic toward early fire warning systems such as a fire alarm.

2.0   Fire Drills

The FSCO, campus facilities, or campus safety and security offices may schedule fire drills. Departments, units, or their associated safety committees may also request fire drills:

  • At WSU Everett, with campus Facilities and/or campus Public Safety and Parking;
  • At WSU Pullman, with the WSU Fire Safety and Compliance Officer and/or Facilities Services Life Safety;
  • At WSU Research and Extension Centers, with the facility and/or farm Maintenance.
  • At WSU Spokane, with campus Facilities Operations and/or Campus Safety and Security;
  • At WSU Tri-Cities, with campus Facilities and/or Campus Safety and Security;
  • At WSU Vancouver, with campus Facilities Services and/or campus Safety and Security;

Fire drills may be coordinated with the local area fire department to educate employees and other building occupants about the routine to follow in case of a fire or other emergency.

WSU residence halls participate in two fire drills each semester, in accordance with International Fire Code (IFC) requirements.

2.1    Evacuation Planning

Each work area should identify at least two emergency exits whenever feasible. Note: The number of exits required for a work area is determined by the use/activities within the area and the number of occupants. Not all work areas (rooms) are required to have more than one exit. Refer to SPPM 8.23 for additional elements to include in fire survival planning.

Each work group should designate a location at least 75 yards away from the building or other facility as an evacuation meeting place to account for all group members.

2.2    Emergency Preparedness Training

Work groups should review the procedures to survive if a fire occurs in the workplace. Fire Safety and Prevention 2.0 training and Emergency and Disaster Preparedness training are available online through the Human Resource Services’ Learning and Organizational Development Percipio Learning System, using the following steps:

  1. Select Library;
  2. Select Compliance — Environmental, Health and Safety, Transportation,
    Sustainability & Security; then
  3. Select Web-based Training –Fire Safety– Fire Safety and Prevention 2.0; and/or
  4. Select Web-based Training – Emergency and Fire Safety Preparedness – Emergency and Disaster Preparedness.

    The training modules may be launched from within this Percipio Compliance channel.

3.0   Resources

For further information, see WSU Police Fire and Safety Compliance.

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Revisions:  Mar. 2024 (Rev. 142); Jan. 2011 (Rev. 87); Aug. 2006 (Rev. 67); Dec. 1989 – new policy (Rev. 7).