Updated 1/25/12 5:34 p.m.

Three students killed in fire in Poughkeepsie, New York

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Ed Comeau, Publisher
Campus Firewatch
413-323-6002 (tel)
413-896-5718 (cell)
ecomeau@campus-firewatch
@campusfirewatch

Three die in off-campus fire in Poughkeepsie, New York

BELCHERTOWN, Mass., January 22, 2012 – A fire in an off-campus house claimed the life of two female students from Marist College, according to a school press release, and one male student from another school.  The fire broke out early Saturday morning at 112 Fairview Avenue. The students have been identified as

• Eva Block, 21, senior, of Woodbridge, Connecticut
• Kerry Fitzsimons, 21, senior, Commack, New York
• Kevin Johnson, 21, New Cannan, Connecticut. Kevin previously attended Marist.

There have been three signficant campus-related fires within five days. In addition to this fire, an off-campus house with students from Boston University was destroyed in a fire on January 22. One of the students is still in critical condition from injuries he received jumping from a second story window. On Wednesday, January 25, a theme house at Hampden-Sydney College was destroyed in a fire and one student was seriously injured.

There have been six campus-related fire deaths in the 2011-2012 academic year.  Since January 2000, Campus Firewatch has documented 152 campus-related fire deaths with 86% of them occurring in off-campus housing, where approximately 2/3 of the students across the nation live.  The past three years have seen a definite downward trend in fire deaths from a high of 20 in 2006-2007 to 6 in 2008-2009; 5 in 2009-2010; and 6 in 2010-2011.

Common factors seen in a number of these fires include:

• Missing or disabled smoke alarms
• Lack of automatic fire sprinklers
• Careless disposal of smoking materials
• Impaired judgment from alcohol leading to ignition or inability to escape the fire
• Upholstered furniture on porches or decks contributing to the fire

Questions to Ask

Campus Firewatch has published its annual Questions to Ask for parents and students that are looking for both on- and off-campus student housing. More Information

Fire Safety for Students with Disabilities

Review the resource library of reports and information available. This is a resource that will be growing and evolving.

Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act introduced in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

This legislation will provide a tax incentive for installing automatic fire sprinklers in off-campus housing (up to 50,000 square feet) and high-rise buildings. More

Listing of campus-related incident spanning 12 years published

This is the annual list publihsed by Campus Firewatch of campus-related fires, both fatal and non-fatal, sorted by state. Almost 500 pages of valuable information. 10 mb PDF