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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Fire Department, Ian’s team up for fire safety

[media-credit name=’LUKAS KEAPPROTH/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′]Carli-Morgan(Junior-Left)an[/media-credit]

On Wednesday night, Ian’s Pizza topped off the Madison Fire Department’s Campus Fire Awareness Campaign by delivering free pizza to University of Wisconsin students who had working smoke alarms in their residences.

“It’s fun for us,” said Ian’s delivery manager Nick Martin of the promotion, adding that Ian’s likes to give away food.

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A member of the Madison Fire Department tagged along with Ian’s deliverymen to make sure that smoke detectors in the customer’s house were working. If they were functioning properly, the pizza was on the house.

“I really wish I would’ve ordered more,” said UW junior Carli Morgan, after she got her pizza for free. All three of her fire detectors worked perfectly.

The promotion was part of the a Madison Fire Department’s designed to encourage University of Wisconsin students to implement fire safety measures.

“Most students, when they move off-campus, aren’t looking for safety features,” MFD spokesperson Lori Wirth said, who called Ian’s Portobello Pesto Pizza a “lunchtime staple.”

She stressed the importance of having an emergency fire escape plan and changing the batteries in smoke detectors regularly.

According to Wirth, most students disconnect the smoke detector instead of changing the batteries when they get low. She also added it is critical to have an unobstructed fire escape.

“We know that there are students living in basement apartments who, if they needed to do so, would not be able to get out,” she said.

The free pizza promotion, now in its second year, began in response to a fire on 123 N. Bedford St. last November. The fire killed a 23-year-old University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student, seriously injured three UW students and caused more than $100,000 in damages.

According to Wirth, that tragedy could have been avoided if the homeowners had a fire escape plan or had working batteries in their smoke detectors.

“We had an employee of ours that was affected by one of the house fires, so when the fire department approached us about doing [the promotion], we hopped on board right away,” said Martin.

Martin said the former Ian’s employee was one of the students injured in the Bedford Street fire.

“Nobody thinks it is going to happen to them, but it does,” said Wirth.

The promotion, which ran from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday night, only applied to deliveries selected at random from Ian’s State Street location.

The customers were informed of the promotion, and it was up to them to decide whether or not to allow the fire department member into their residence.

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