The latest issuance of LSU’s annual security and fire report revealed several residential buildings on campus lack certain safety features, including the Edward Gay Apartments, which houses students with children.

In the 2021 report, multiple charts detail which safety features each residential building on campus is equipped with: fire alarms, exit signs, sprinkler systems and more. Several of these buildings lack many of the features that are equipped in other buildings.

Buildings lacking major systems include the Acacia Fraternity house, Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity house, Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity house, Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity house, Sigma Chi Fraternity house, Theta Xi Fraternity house and the Edward Gay apartments.

Of all the residential buildings on campus, the Edward Gay apartments have the least amount of fire safety features. These apartments are slated to be demolished in 2023, but currently house graduate students, international students and students with families.

Despite being home to families and students, these apartments lack on-site fire alarm monitoring, a full sprinkler system, any form of automatic fire alarm system, audible directional assist, heat smoke detectors, posted evacuation signs and fire drills.

Although it would seem these lack of features would put these buildings out of code, none of the buildings have recently been issued deficient or cautionary code citations.

Ashley Rodrigue, the public affairs director for the Louisiana State Fire Marshal, explained that buildings must only be compliant with the laws from when it was built, unless a building has undergone a full reconstruction or a renovation of more than 50%.

If either of those occurred, then the building would have to follow the updated laws from when the reconstruction or renovation occurred.

The Ed Gay Apartments were constructed in 1966 and have not had any major renovations since its construction. This means they are subject to the 1967 code laws because this was the first issuance of the Life Safety Code published by the National Fire Protection Association.

Several fraternity houses, some unoccupied, also lack safety features. 

Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Alpha Mu are inactive fraternities. Sigma Alpha Epsilon was suspended in April, but members were living in the house until then.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon has no sprinkler system and only “partial” smoke detectors, a term which the report leaves undefined. The LSU chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu is closed, but they similarly lacked a complete smoke detector system, but they had a partial sprinkler system.

A partial sprinkler system is defined in the report as “sprinklers in common areas only.”

Acacia, Alpha Gamma Rho, Sigma Chi, Theta Xi and the Ed Gay apartments are all being actively lived in. Like the Sigma Alpha Mu house, Acacia and Alpha Gamma Rho have partial smoke detectors and partial sprinkler systems. Sigma Chi and Theta Xi, like Sigma Alpha Epsilon, only have partial smoke detectors.

All of the fraternities mentioned have fire extinguishers, posted evacuation signs, fire drills and off-site monitored fire alarms. The other fraternity and sorority buildings on campus have full sprinkler systems and/or completed smoke detector systems as well as the other features.

All of the fraternity buildings mentioned, except for Sigma Chi, all fall under the 1967 code laws as well. Sigma Chi was built in 1978 and would follow the 1973 code laws.

Owners are not required to update features outside the required code laws, but they can do it on their own accord. Acacia is the only building not listed as being owned by either the State of Louisiana or LSU. LSU has not further advanced the safety features for these buildings outside of what they are required to do.

“All of our facilities are compliant with the laws and rules that apply to them in relation to fire code requirements,” Ernie Ballard said to the Reveille when asked why certain buildings, including the Ed Gay apartments, lacked some fire safety features. “Ed Gay apartments have stand alone smoke detectors that are checked monthly, along with fire extinguishers. The facility is also inspected annually by the Fire Marshall.”