All fired up at UCSD

There haven’t been any deaths yet, but multiple fires in the dorms and residence facilities of UCSD have been dangerous and costly. So says the school’s annual fire-safety report released last week, which includes among a rash of cooking-gone-bad incidents an “unintentional stove fire” at the Rita Atkinson Residences in 2012, costing between $100,000 and $250,000; another that year at Muir College’s Tioga Hall caused $10,000 to $25,000 in damage.

An “unintentional electrical fire” at the university’s North Mesa Apartments in 2014 set the school back $500,000 to $999,999, the report says. News reports of that incident said a woman was inside the building at the time but managed to escape without injury. This past June 22, an early-morning blaze at the Stein Clinical Research Building required the attention of a hazardous materials unit.

The school says it is trying its best to deal with the issue before anything worse happens. “The campus alarm system and how alarms are received is currently in the process of being upgraded and modernized. When and where possible, improvements in the area of fire prevention education will be provided, including ongoing training of students, faculty, and staff in the safe use of fire extinguishers.” Adds the report: “The second area of concentration will be the continuation of a multi-year plan for installing fire protection (fire sprinkler) systems in all residential housing facilities currently not so protected.”

On another high-risk front, UCSD is warning its employees to be on the lookout for fraudulent wire-transfer requests. “The message was specifically targeted, well written, and used appropriate names in order to be more believable, but the reply address was directed to an unfamiliar off-campus e-mail address,” says a September 29 bulletin. “Similar fraudulent e-mail messages have been reported at other UC campuses over the last few months, usually targeting the CFO or Procurement organizations in attempts to wire money or approve credit or purchase requests.”

No word on whether the perpetrators are insiders or not. “Be wary of unusual financial requests that seem to come from your manager or other trusted individuals.”