Fire Season: California experiences extreme drought and heat conditions that typically start in June and last through November. With fire season, comes bad air quality. It is recommended to wear a N95 mask to prevent smoke particulants from entering your lungs. During fire season, PGE will turn off power during times of extreme wind and when the risk of fire is extremely high. Prepare for these power outages with keeping your devices charged and keeping portable chargers for your devices. We also recommend subscribing to the Berkeley city email chain that will let you know if you are in an evacuation zone for a fire in the surrounding area. It is also extremely important that you have a go bag in the case of evacuation (some clothes, toiletries, face masks, medications, correctional lenses, wallet, cash, batteries, and important documentation). Evacuation plan and fire wards will be discussed at the house meetings at the beginning of the semester and throughout the year.
Kitchen Safety: Upon moving in, please familiarize yourself with the location of the fire extinguisher, all the exits, the fire escapes, and the fire alarm pulls. When you are using the kitchen please set alarms so that you do not leave the oven on and burn your food. Do not leave cooking food unattended and please remember to turn off the flame when drying cast irons. If you forget to turn off the stove and the oven, this is a fire hazard and puts everyone at risk. The fire alarm will also go off. In the event the fire alarm goes off and there is no fire, please make sure someone calls the fire department to let them know it was a false alarm.
The kitchen has a magnetic strip on the wall for knives. DO NOT put knives into the drying containers, put them back on the magnetic strip on the wall. No stabby stabby.
Laundry Safety: Always check the dryers before and after your load for lint. Always remove lint because if it builds up, it is a fire hazard. Foothill dorms experienced a fire due to the build up of lint in their dryers.
We Don't Want This ^
Earthquake Safety: California experiences Earthquakes very frequently. In the case of an earthquake while you are in or around Hearst House please be aware that we have spanish tiles on the roof. These spanish tiles will most likely fall off the roof and can cause serious damage. Areas to avoid during an Earthquake include the alleyway where we have our trashcans, and the parking lot.
