Fewer than two percent of Dundee fire fighter call outs to student halls of residence in the past 20 months were to actual fires .
Officers from Scottish Fire and Rescue attended 393 incidents at student halls of residence in the city between September 2015 to May 2017.
There were four reported cases of a fire requiring to be extinguished in that time, eleven incidents which required specialist service from the fire brigade and 378 false alarms.
Both September 2015 and 2016 — when the universities’ undergraduate semesters began — saw the greatest number of fire brigade call outs, with 44 and 41 respectively across the city .
Scottish Fire and Rescue say many false alarms are caused by carelessness or negligence and are easily avoidable.
They also remind students making hoax calls or “nuisance” calls they are liable for a fine and in some cases imprisonment.
Dundee University has four halls of residence locations in the city – Belmont, Heathfield, Seabraes and West Park – with varied housing types in each.
Abertay University, which has three university halls – Victoria Chambers, Meadowside Halls and Lyon Street – had 12 false alarm activations between September 2015 and April 2017, and never more than two in one month.
The university also offers students the chance to take up accommodation at privately run Parker House, which has not had a single call out in three years.
A spokesperson for Abertay University said: “At Abertay we treat the safety of all students and staff with the utmost important and this includes fire safety.
“We carry out termly evacuations in all residences, provide fire safety guidance as part of the residences online induction and provide electronic and hard copies of fire safety guidance and instructions in every bedroom and shared space in halls.
“We also actively encourage the Scottish Fire Service to carry out home safety visits in all residences during the early part of the academic year.
“Where a malicious fire alarm activation is pin-pointed to an individual tenant, we take formal disciplinary action using the university-wide disciplinary code.”
Station Manager for Dundee West, Grant Nicoll said: “Firefighters and dedicated community safety staff work extremely hard to engage with students during fresher’s week and promote safety messages in order to keep our communities as safe as possible.
“Young people who have moved out of their family home for the first time often don’t understand that individual carelessness can be the cause of many alarms and the resulting evacuations.
“The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has produced a student safety leaflet to give those moving away from home some tips to prevent emergencies and false alarms.
“It details simple steps like choosing never to cook while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and the use of candles and incense sticks.”
A spokesperson for Dundee University said: “Students are made aware of our fire safety regulations and their personal responsibilities in this regard even before they take up a place at our residences.
“Fire safety is of the utmost importance in our halls of residence and we work closely with Scottish Fire and Rescue on campaigns to reiterate this message.
“We have clear disciplinary procedures in place for anyone found flouting these regulations and all our students are aware of this.”
