The fire on the top floor was not detected by the building's fire alarm system, as it should have been, but instead was seen by a passing Secret Service patrol unit. These officers notified the fire department, entered the building, activated the building's fire alarm system and made several unsuccessful attempts to rescue the trapped victim from the ninth floor before the arrival of the fire department.
It was fortunate that the fire was seen by the officers. However, it was unfortunate that the fire grew to this magnitude before being detected because it placed the occupant in the room at great risk as well as others in the building.
A fire last month in a women's dormitory at Rust College in Mississippi damaged seven rooms and is another example of the danger of residence hall fires. In this fire, the building's fire alarm system was not operating at all, and according to fire officials, the room's occupant was wakened when her hair caught fire. She was able to escape the room and start alerting others in the building to evacuate.
Both of these fires are contrary to what we would expect today in a residence hall, no matter when it was built. If a properly designed fire alarm system was present and functional, both of these fires would have been detected quickly, the occupants would have been alerted to escape from the fire and the fire departments would have been notified to respond. A sprinkler system in the rooms would have controlled or extinguished the fires, providing an even higher level of life safety.
Off-campus fires are deadly as well. According to the Center for Campus Fire Safety (www.campusfire.org), 80 percent of fatalities in student housing fire have occurred in off-campus occupancies where a majority of the students live. Fatal fires have recently occurred in a fraternity in Mississippi and an off-campus apartment in Washington, D.C., but we don't need to look very far to find similar examples in the Valley.
In 2003, a 21-year-old junior from the University of Massachusetts was killed in an off-campus fire in Amherst. A fire captain was driving to work in the morning when he saw smoke coming from the two-family house. He unsuccessfully attempted to enter the side of the building that was on fire and then entered the other side and wakened the occupant, who left the building and then inexplicably re-entered two more times.
When the fire department arrived on the scene they removed three more people sleeping in the basement, extinguished the fire and found the body of the victim. The cause of the fire was believed to have been smoking materials and the smoke alarm, which had been present several months earlier, was nowhere to be found.
In 2001 the Delta Upsilon (DU) fraternity was destroyed by a fire. One afternoon, one of the occupants woke up and threw his bedding material over a burning candle. As he left the building and looked back he saw fire coming out of his bedroom window. Someone called the fire department and gave the wrong address, but fortunately the engine companies could see the fire and were able to find the burning building.
DU had a fire alarm system connected to a monitoring company who notifies the fire department whenever the system is activated. However, the smoke detectors had been covered with plastic bags and did not activate. As soon as this was discovered, the other fraternities and sororities were inspected and three more buildings with similar conditions were discovered.
More needs to be done to reduce the loss of life and injuries from fires across the nation. The impact of a fatal fire on friends and families is immeasurable, but the following e-mail from a mother who lost her son in a fire is a moving testimony.
"We lost our 22-year-old son to an off campus fire. He finally was able to rent an apartment on his own. He worked two jobs and was a full time student.
He was anxiously looking forward to his graduation, and had recently visited a campus sponsored job fair.
His apartment had no sprinklers or smoke alarms. As parents, we always made sure our children were aware of fire safety. We always practiced an escape route at home. When on vacation, we always pointed out the exits and what to do if there were an emergency.
However, when our children left for college, we never once thought about fire safety. I believe we must have thought that the university and/or apartment owners had that part of college life taken care of. What a tragic belief that was for our family."
Working together, we can all make a difference.
How can you protect yourself from fire?
• Check your smoke alarm. Change your battery when you change your clock to Daylight Savings Time.
• Buy a smoke alarm if you don't have one! It is an inexpensive investment that can save your life.
• Extinguish all smoking materials and dispose of them properly. Most of the fatal fires in this country are caused by cigarettes.
• An unattended candle is a dangerous candle. Always extinguish candles before you leave.
• Be careful while cooking. This is another leading cause of fires.
• Buy and learn how to use a fire extinguisher.
Comeau is the director of the Center for Campus Fire Safety (www.campusfire.org), a non-profit organization devoted to reducing fires at our nation's campuses.