By Joseph Zuniga
Dominican’s latest fire safety inspection reports from 2025 reveal violations, both minor and major. Campus Safety shows compliance with the issues and looks for resolutions as students raise concern for recent fire activity.
The violations from the inspections include: burnt-out emergency exit lights, improper use of extension cords, fire doors in Murray Hall not opening/closing properly, oxygen tanks not properly chained up, and a sprinkler system in the west stairwell of Murray needed to be serviced, as the last tag was from 2023.
River Forest Fire Marshal Ryan Lambert looked at the inspection report and gave his thoughts on the findings.
Lambert says that emergency lights burning out are very common and no cause for concern, as it is a “normal” occurrence for many inspection reports and often involves a simple fix.
A more troubling concern to Lambert, however, are the fire doors not working properly. The report stated that the fire doors on multiple floors of Murray were either not opening properly or would not close and latch properly because they were out of alignment with the hinges.
Sasha Santiago, the Director of Campus Safety, stated the important role that these fire doors play in case of a fire.
“These (fire doors) are supposed to stay closed… so when you have them open, fire can spread more easily,” she said. “They are supposed to contain the fire to the specific building.”
A follow-up inspection from a month later revealed that the issue had been resolved.
The 2025 inspections also showed that Dominican had resolved both the issue with the improper storage of oxygen tanks and the violation of improper use of extension cords, as a revisit saw that the oxygen tanks were properly chained up and the extension cords were no longer used.
Lambert emphasized the importance of having a properly functioning sprinkler system, and that not having a working system would mean having the building on ‘fire watch’ in a hypothetical situation.
However, that would not be needed in this case, as Santiago mentioned that the sprinkler system with the service tag from 2023 has been serviced and that the tags were never replaced by the company that worked on them. She confirms the entire sprinkler system on campus is ready for emergency use.
Dominican has also had multiple incidents involving the activation of fire alarms, which have raised concerns for some students.
On Jan. 26, there were two separate fire alarm activations. Santiago reveals that these activations were serious and that the issue came from mechanical areas in the Crown Library. The building was evacuated, and the River Forest Fire Department came on scene and solved the situation.
Initially, Campus Safety could not enter the area to help identify the origin because of the clouds of smoke that posed a respiratory threat.
Santiago described, “Although there wasn’t an actual fire, it was still dangerous enough for us not to go into this space.”
She also stated how Campus Safety plays a big role in these situations, “in most cases when it’s something burning… we’ll make the effort to try and get in there. They’re always told to use their best judgment because I never want to put the team at risk. But, if they can, they try their hardest to identify it and minimize it.”
Junior Sandra Magdaleno mentioned another fire incident that occurred on Nov. 13. When Magdaleno got back to her dorm at around 1:45 a.m., a fire alarm was activated for the 4th floor of Power in Magdaleno’s friend’s dorm room. Smoke began to fill the hallways, and residents evacuated from Power.
Campus Safety had arrived at the dorm and worked to mitigate the fire. Campus Safety told Magdaleno that it was an electrical fire. Magdaleno criticizes that the building’s age and faulty outlets are to blame.
Magdaleno says, “My friend’s outlets are always going out… she can’t use her microwave anymore because (when) she has her microwave plugged in, nothing else is plugged in and it short-circuits the outlet.”
Santiago reveals that the microwave was plugged into a tightly packed space underneath the dorm bed. She argues that it was likely overheating and surged, which caused the electrical fire.
Magdaleno recalls Campus Safety advising not to plug appliances into extension cords. However, Magdaleno argues that her friend had her microwave plugged directly into the wall outlet.
Santiago advises students to take precautions with their devices and appliances and to use surge protectors instead of extension cords to prevent an event like this from happening again.
Most importantly, Santiago emphasizes that Campus Safety is there for students, and if they feel unsafe or concerned about something, including concerns about outlets, they should reach out to Campus Safety and their Residence Assistant.
Inspection Report: Report
Be the first to comment