Escape from ‘burning’ student room: fire brigade works to raise awareness with escape room
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De escaperoom van de brandweer. Foto: Diede van der Vleuten
Can you escape from your student room in time when a fire breaks out? That is the central question in Gelderland-Zuid Veiligheidsregio’s (Safety Region) escape room. ‘Whether participants make it or not, the main point is to make students aware of the fire hazards in their homes.’
‘Oh man, we are really bad at this,’ Xavier (15) exclaims aloud. His cry for help is understandable. Solving the puzzles in the fire brigade’s escape room, which he participates in with his friends Isaac (16) and Thijs (15)* on Tuesday afternoon, is not exactly going smoothly.
Veiligheidsregio Gelderland-Zuid, which includes the local fire brigade, was at the orientation market with an escape room on Monday. Yesterday, the set-up could be found on the Grote Markt. The escape room aims to make students aware of fire safety playfully. Participants have to search for unsafe situations in a recreated student room. If they find and solve them, they get part of a code with which they can eventually open the door. This has to be done within 10 minutes.
Adding pressure
In the escape room, the lights have turned red after about five minutes and smoke is slowly coming out of the washing machine. The trio knows that time is running out. ‘The smoke you are breathing in now could be lethal within three minutes,’ firefighter Wiljan Gerritzen, watching the scene from the corner of the room, adds pressure.
‘Here, check this fire alarm,’ Thijs says as he twists the device from the ceiling. ‘At our house, they beep when you test them,’ Xavier smartly remarks when the three find that the device makes no sound. After some fiddling, they discover that the batteries are missing. After finding them elsewhere in the room, it’s time to test the device, thus solving part of the puzzle.
With 1 minute and 17 seconds left on the clock – some hints were used – the three finally manage to crack the code and open the door. In doing so, they get themselves to safety. At lightning speed, the three storm out of the cramped cabin.
They are not quite finished: Gerritzen first wants to review what they have done and check that they have understood why the situations were unsafe.
The three boys are not yet university students but are in the fifth grade of the Stedelijk Gymnasium. In two years, they might also move into student dorms. ‘It was fun to do,’ Isaac says afterwards. ‘But it was really hot inside.’ Xavier adds: ‘I’m definitely going to check my smoke detector properly.’
Long list of fire hazards
All day Tuesday, Intro groups and students from the Stedelijk Gymnasium, which is just down the road, stop by. ‘The fastest group had 5 minutes and 52 seconds left,’ Gerritzen says. ‘And that without hints. That was very good. But there was also a group that didn’t make it. Then we give them some extra tips on what to pay attention to. Whether students make it or not is not really our concern, it is mainly about making them aware of possible fire hazards and making them take a critical look at their own homes.’
Because the list of potential fire hazards is long – longer than students often think, Gerritzen knows. From overheated chargers and dryers full of dust to fire alarms disabled for smoking and escape routes completely blocked with beer crates: the fire brigade sees it all. That it only takes a few seconds for things to go up in flames was demonstrated earlier this year in the SSH& complex Hoogeveldt. There, sixteen rooms were uninhabitable for a few weeks after a grease fire broke out while baking oliebollen.
More information and tips on fire safety in student houses can be found on the fire brigade’s website.
Mayor visiting
The escape room and the aerial work platform parked next to it attract a lot of attention at the Grote Markt. Mayor Hubert Bruls also takes a look inside the room. He does not want to take up the challenge himself. ‘I immediately saw what was wrong,’ he says with a big wink. He does, however, allow himself to be informed about the fire risks in student housing and the checks carried out by the fire brigade.
To some intro people from the study association Postelein (Pedagogical Sciences and Educational Sciences), the scene goes ignored. Not everyone seems equally keen on an escape room about fire safety; as the groups also have to complete a list of tasks.
One of them is taking a picture with a famous Dutchman. Whether the firefighters might be able to help with that? ‘He has been in the newspaper,’ Gerritzen shouts as he points to colleague Gijs Gommers, who is practically standing next to the mayor. With a big smile on his face, Gommers addresses the students.
When Bruls is finally recognised by one of the mentors, there is a sudden rush to have a picture taken with him. With a smile and a joke, the mayor makes it all happen. In between photo shoots, the fire brigade gratefully uses the opportunity to teach the students about fire safety.
*The surnames of the three students are known to the editors.
Translated by Stella Kuipers
