The Department of Fire & Emergency Services (FES), in addition to implementing the University’s crisis emergency plan (see emergency preparedness), maintains an active partnership with the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses & Inspection, and Fire Department, in order to ensure compliance with all city, state and federal fire and building codes for the University. FES conducts routine inspections of buildings and fire alarms; supervises mandatory evacuation drills; reviews all plans for construction, renovation and installation of fire protection and sprinkler systems; investigates work-related accidents; monitors all campus elevators for safe operations; coordinates regular inspections of all elevator emergency phones; conducts pre-event inspections (such as Spring Fling, Hey Day, concerts etc.; and provides fire and emergency services trainings for the entire Penn community.

The members of FES have an extensive professional and academic background in fire protection, fire prevention, safety, code management, fire investigation, building inspections, fire suppression, hazardous materials and training. FES strives to ensure a safe operational and living environment for all Penn students, faculty and staff by providing a contemporary fire and safety program that is continuously reviewed, updated and coordinated with University community members.

Personnel from FES, along with various representatives from both Penn (Undergraduate Assembly, Office of Off-Campus Living) and the City of Philadelphia (Licenses & Inspections, Fire Department), as well as landlords in University City, have joined together to create the “Off-Campus Fire Safety Coalition.” The overarching goal of this coalition is to identify current code compliance issues (recently updated by the City of Philadelphia) and increase the number of inspections in off-campus student residences within University City, with the support of University City landlords.