GRAPHIC | Johnan Mitchell
Among the many issues college students face, laundry is not the most significant issue but one of the more forgotten. The more specific problem is laundry lint.
Laundry lint, when not removed from dryers after use, can cause fires. Just one week ago, students in the GroupMe on the fifth floor of Nutt hall reported their clothes nearly catching on fire.
One student sent this message, “DO NOT TURN ON the bottom left dryer. I don’t know if anyone has noticed or said anything, but I almost caught my clothes on fire because it’s an actual flame coming out of the vent. I’m thankful I noticed before I walked away! Don’t use it! I unplugged it.”
Other students claimed that the fire was likely caused by lint being left in the dryer, and many thought they were lucky the student caught fire early.
Some schools have not been as fortunate when it comes to lint fires. In 2000, Seton Hall University had a laundry room fire in one of their dormitories, killing 3 people. The New York Times wrote, “Officials said the blaze began in lint inside the dryer, in the center’s basement laundry room.” They also said authorities found “excessive lint” in many other dryers throughout the campus.
Removing lint after using a dryer seems like common sense, but many throughout the Arkansas Tech campus fail to do so. Suppose Arkansas Tech wants to prevent something like what happened at Seton Hall on their campus. They should add signage in every laundry room telling students to remove their lint after using the dryer.
Adding signage would not only notify students of the danger of not removing lint but could also protect Arkansas Tech from any legal matter regarding laundry room maintenance issues.
