Don't forget safety when trimming your tree
Rachel Duff, posted Nov. 20, 2006
The Holidays are coming and that means that it is time to start decorating. “There are many decorating guidelines in place for the safety of our residents,” said Rebecca Hix, Jones Hall Coordinator.
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A string of lights hang in a residential hall doorway during last year's Christmas season.
— photo by Kyle Spradley
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Students living in MU residence halls are not allowed to have actual candles in their rooms for Kwanzaa or Hanukah, but they may use electric candles, according to Hix. Real Christmas trees are allowed if they are spruce, fir or pine and are not dried out when they are purchased. Cedar trees are not allowed in the halls. Before bringing trees into the halls, they must first be inspected and sprayed with fire retardant by the Physical Plant Department on the east side of University Garage, except artificial trees, which must be approved as flame retardant. The real trees must stay watered at all times and nothing can be placed near a stairway, radiator or an exit.
If the tree is to be decorated, the lights must not be frayed. They cannot go through or under doors. The electric circuits also cannot be overloaded. There cannot be real candles on the trees under any circumstance. The Christmas lights can only be on when someone is in the area where the tree is located and the lights cannot be strung around the doorframes or in the corridors. Doors cannot be gift-wrapped and the decorations cannot cause any harm to the room. All decorations must be removed from the halls before the end of the semester.
All decorations need to be made of non-combustible material and have a label that confirms it, according to Debbie Sorrell, Assistant Fire Marshall on the MU campus. Strands of lights should use cool touch bulbs. All electronic decorations need to be manufactured with Underwriters Laboratory approval.
The rules for decorations in residence halls are very important for the safety of the residents, according to Hix. The safety of the decorations will be inspected if a Community Advisor notices a problem before Thanksgiving break and before the end of semester to ensure the safety of the residents.
