Safety and Security director Harry Kinne said the department will once again work with officers from Green Mountain Security, a Vermont-based security company, on Friday night.
"This is our biggest weekend," Kinne said. "During the bonfire, we have everybody in the department working, plus a number of outside law enforcement agencies that come in to assist," he said.
Kinne estimated that Safety and Security will see around 60 to 70 reports over the weekend, involving both medical emergencies and alcohol intoxication. Safety and Security will have 50 officers at the bonfire, and 10 Green Mountain Security officers will be paired with an officer from the College. One of the officers' priorities will be to prevent students from touching the fire.
"Periodically, we have people that try to touch the fire," Kinne said. "It's a very dangerous thing to do. The heat is so intense, and we never know when the fire is going to collapse."
In addition to extra officers, there will be additional lighting, barricades and ropes to prevent students from getting too close.
Kinne said students who try to touch the bonfire will be arrested by Hanover Police. To promote effective communication between the department and safety organizations, the department will use a trailer from the county's emergency operations center as a home base.
Though Friday is the biggest night for campus security, Kinne said excessive alcohol consumption is the main threat to student safety.
"We experience a lot of people who consume too much alcohol," he said. "We want people to use the Good Sam to call us. We also want to make sure that people who are attending social events watch out for each other."
Throughout the weekend, Safety and Security will have six to eight officers working each night from dusk to dawn, more than the usual four to five. The additional officers will patrol campus in vehicles and on foot, and extra foot patrols will be conducted in the residence halls.
"We don't really slow down until 6 a.m. on Sunday morning," Kinne said.
EMS director Ethan Thomas '14 said the group will work with Safety and Security and Dick's House throughout the weekend.
"Homecoming is a particularly big weekend just because there are so many events happening," he said. "We're increasing our training right before Homecoming, just to make sure everyone is up-to-date."
EMS will staff extra crews, including some at the inpatient department at Dick's House.
"With Homecoming naturally comes more alcohol-related incidents," he said. "Not only just high levels of intoxication, but injuries resulting from intoxication."
Both Thomas and Kinne encouraged students to reach out to their respective departments in the event of any emergency.
"I always tell people, the safest thing people can do is everything in moderation, watch out for each other and call Safety and Security if anything is out of the ordinary,'" Kinne said.
As a student-led organization, Dartmouth EMS seeks to be as strong of a resource for students as possible.
"We're all students helping students, so we hope that people aren't hesitant to get help from us if they need it," Thomas said. "We're happy to be a resource for everyone on campus, especially for big weekends like this."
Dick's House could not be reached for comment.
