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Approximately half of the student body displaced by fire

BELCHERTOWN, Mass., February 20, 2007— A fire in a residence hall at Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee, shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Monday has displaced a large number of students. According to media reports, the fire broke out in a room on the top floor of a three-story residence hall and spread across the hall, destroying two rooms. No one was injured in the fire which caused extensive smoke and water damage throughout the building.

Colston Hall houses 80 students, which is approximately half of the school’s total student body. There are reports in the press that the building had been renovated last summer.

Since January 2000, there have been 100 campus-related fire deaths across the country, with 80 percent of them occurring in off-campus housing. Four common factors have been identified in a number of the off-campus fatal fires, including:

Lack of automatic fire sprinklers
Missing or disabled smoke alarms
Careless disposal of smoking materials
Impaired judgment from alcohol consumption

“It is critically important that students know how they can protect themselves from becoming a tragic victim of a fire,” said Ed Comeau, publisher of Campus Firewatch. “There are a number of steps that they can take that will help to improve their chances of either not having a fire, or surviving one if it does occur.”

These steps include:

Live in housing equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler system.
Ensure that your housing has interconnected smoke alarms on all levels and that they are working at all times.
Take each alarm activation seriously and evacuate. If an alarm is being activated needlessly by cooking or by a shower, relocate the alarm, do not disable it.
Always know two ways out of the building you are in, whether it is your house, apartment, residence hall, movie theater or nightclub.
A number of fires have started because cigarettes have been carelessly discarded. Use ashtrays and dispose of the cigarette butts properly.
After a party, check the seat cushions on couches and chairs for cigarettes that may lie smoldering, waiting to start a fire in the middle of the night.
Do not overload extension cords which may cause them to overheat.
Make sure you have a fire extinguisher and, more importantly, know how to use it before the fire breaks out.

“These are simple tips that can help save your life,” says Comeau. “To learn more, or if you should have any questions about your house or apartment, contact your local fire department for more information or to request an inspection.”

Campus Fire Safety Information Sheet

Updated Friday, February 16, 2007

According to information compiled by Campus Firewatch, almost 80% of the campus-related fire fatalities across the nation since January 2000 have occurred in off-campus housing. Four common factors in a number of these fires include:

Lack of automatic fire sprinklers
Missing or disabled smoke alarms
Careless disposal of smoking materials
Impaired judgment from alcohol consumption

The following information has been compiled by Campus Firewatch. Please note that much of this information is gathered by monitoring the wire services so the actual number of fatal fires, especially in off-campus occupancies, may be higher.

Since January 2000, approximately 12% of the fires have killed 43% of the victims. In other words, a small percentage of the fires, which are classified by Campus Firewatch as catastrophic, multiple-fatality fires, are killing a large number of the victims.

Campus-related fire fatalities from January 2000 to February 16, 2007

Occupancy	Deaths	% of total
Off-campus	79	79%
Residence Hall	10	10%
Greek housing	10	10%
Other	1	1%
Total	100

According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are approximately 17,000,000 students enrolled in 4,100 colleges and universities across the country. Approximately 2/3 of the students live in off-campus housing.

Geographic distribution of fire fatalities

Ohio	12
North Carolina	10
West Virginia	8
Indiana	7
Pennsylvania	7
Kansas	5
California	4
Illinois	4
Texas	4
Massachusetts	3
Minnesota	3
Mississippi	3
Nebraska	3
New Jersey	3
New York	3
Virginia	3
Alaska	2
Georgia	2
Kentucky	2
Maryland	2
Missouri	2
DC	1
Iowa	1
Louisiana	1
Michigan	1
Oklahoma	1
Oregon	1
Rhode Island	1
Tennessee	1

Fatal fires 2006-2007 academic year

University of Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1 killed in an off-campus fire
Nebraska Wesleyan University	Lincoln, Nebraska	1 killed in a fraternity fire
University of Missouri – St. Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	1 killed in a fraternity fire
University of Nebraska – Lincoln	Lincoln, Nebraska	2 killed in an off-campus fire
Marshall University	Huntington, West Virginia	5 killed in an off-campus fire
Halifax Community College	Weldon, North Carolina	1 killed in an off-campus fire
Academic year-to-date total		11

NOTE: Two of the victims at the Marshall University fire were not students. However, they were visiting a student’s apartment at the time of the fire and are therefore included as campus-related fire deaths. In the University of Nebraska-Lincoln fire, the victim was due to deliver her baby on the day she was killed and the fire department classified this as two victims.

Campus Fire Safety Month

In 2006, thirty-one states issued proclamations recognizing September as Campus Fire Safety Month.

Alabama	Maryland	Oklahoma
Alaska	Massachusetts	Oregon
Colorado	Michigan	Pennsylvania
Connecticut	Mississippi	Rhode Island
Hawaii	Missouri	South Carolina
Illinois	Nebraska	Texas
Indiana	New Jersey	Utah
Kansas	New Mexico	Vermont
Kentucky	New York	Virginia
Louisiana	North Carolina	Wisconsin
Maine