Pforzheimer House Superintendent Milton Canjura said his inspections were “thorough” and included students’ closets but not beds, while Adams House Superintendent Jorge Teixeira said he opened closets but did not sort through the contents.

Traugott said in his three previous years at Harvard, inspectors rarely uncovered hidden items.

“In the past you could drape something under a sheet in the middle of the room and they wouldn’t find it,” Traugott said.

Despite the heightened emphasis on searching for fire hazards, Gingo, who coordinates the superintendents’ inspection efforts, said most were “pleasantly surprised” with how few violations they had found, although complete statistics are still being compiled.

Houses sent out an e-mail before the vacation warning students of the increased consequences, a move that may have led students to get rid of their appliances.

“The students got the message—there was a very low amount of infractions,” Ketelhohn said.

But he added that some students probably used their prior knowledge of inspection dates to hide their appliances or remove them temporarily, although he said he believed such evasions were limited.

Eckhouse said he and his roommates hid two microwaves, a coffeemaker, a George Foreman grill and candles—all prohibited items—in cabinets, under a table and in a closet.

“The whole system of room checks is ridiculous,” he said. “If you couldn’t hide it well enough the first time, you can just hide it in a friend’s room [during the second inspection].”

Even though Traugott’s room received a violation notice for their toaster oven, he said putting more effort into hiding the appliance would avoid future problems.

“It’s kind of a game,” Traugott said. “They caught us, but we’re just going to come up with another way to hide it.”

The only cooking appliances officially permitted in the dorms, Micro-Fridges, are combination refrigerator-microwaves available through Harvard Student Agencies.

Scott Haywood, Kirkland House’s superintendent, said the Micro-Fridge is less of a fire hazard than conventional appliances because it requires only a small amount of heat.

“There’s a circuitry system that doesn’t allow both the microwave and the refrigerator to be running at the same time,” he said.

Although city and state law prohibits cooking appliances in college dorm rooms, Harvard has negotiated with the Cambridge fire marshall to allow an exception for Micro-Fridges, Lewis wrote.

Even if the University is successful in preventing students from keeping fire hazards in their rooms, Lt. Barry Lynde of the Cambridge Fire Department said fires often start simply because students are “careless,” even with items that are permitted in the Houses.

“One kid put a quilt into the washing machine, and it couldn’t handle it and the motor burnt up,” said Lynde, who has responded to calls at Harvard. “We’ve found fireplaces where they’d put a log on and not open the flue, or they’d have things hanging down [in front of the fire].”

—Staff writer Elisabeth S. Theodore can be reached at theodore@fas.harvard.edu.