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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sorority fire at Purdue University was a significant “wake up” call about campus fire safety

The fire destroyed three women’s belongings and was a very close call as they fled through the fire to escape

BELCHERTOWN, Mass., August 19, 2010 — A fire broke out yesterday in a sorority occupied by 95 women at Purdue University that was a “wake up” call about how quickly a fire can make the start of the school year a tragic one.

The call reporting the fire came in at 6:59 a.m. and when police arrived on the scene they reported that there was heavy fire coming from the back of the building.  When the fire department arrived, the fire had already blown out two windows and there was heavy, black smoke showing.

The fire occurred in a common area off of which there was a bedroom occupied by three women.  Another occupant was sleeping in the common room where the fire started, which meant that everyone had to go through the room that was on fire to escape.  According to fire officials, one occupant was awakened by the fire alarm and she woke one of the other occupants.  However, they had a difficult time wakening the other occupants and one woman, who had successfully escaped, reentered the fire room and was finally able to waken her roommate.

One of the occupants had reported that they knew there was a problem prior to the fire with the blades of a box fan hitting the fan’s wiring.  During the night the fan fell behind the futon in the common area and apparently caught on fire.  Damage was estimated to be about $50,000 and the three women lost all of their belongings in the blaze.  The building had a sprinkler system only in the common areas, not in the residential rooms.

This fire occurred just as the new campus fire safety program, igot2kno (www.igot2kno.org), was being launched.  Purdue University Fire Chief Kevin Ply, who was just awarded Indiana Fire Chief of the Year for his efforts in campus fire safety, was a part of the team that had developed this innovative, online training program.  At the orientation session for the 6,500 incoming freshmen last week, the Purdue Fire Department spoke about the importance of fire safety and announced that igot2kno is available and students that go through the program are eligible for a series of prizes that include iPods, pizzas from Domino’s, smoke alarms and a grand prize of an iPad.  “The response from the students was overwhelming, to say the least,” said Ply.

“There are three areas that igot2kno focuses on,” continued Ply, “including cooking fire safety, alcohol awareness and egress.  This fire touched upon several of those components and serves as a serious lesson learned for everyone to be aware how to prevent a fire from occurring and what to do when one does break out.”

igot2kno was first developed in 2007 under a grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Fire Prevention and Safety program to the People’s Burn Foundation of Indiana.  In 2009, PBF was awarded another grant to develop the next version of this landmark training program and Ed Comeau, publisher of Campus Firewatch, managed the development team and content development for both projects.

“These students were incredibly lucky,” said Comeau.  “However, this isn’t always the case and since January 2000 at least 135 people have lost their lives in campus-related fires.  This fire dramatically demonstrates that students now have personal responsibility for ensuring a fire does not happen and, if one does, how to survive.  igot2kno can help in providing this very information they might need someday and not only while they are in college.  After all, fire safety – it’s part of living.”

Entirely web-based and free for any school or community to use, igot2kno provides information to students about fire safety in a variety of formats including interactive games, videos and FAQs.  Starting in September, a sweepstakes will be held that will encourage students to go through the game modules, learn about fire safety and become eligible to win a series of prizes.

In addition, September is National Campus Fire Safety Month with governors across the nation signing proclamations and resolutions have been passed by the United States Senate and House of Representatives.  A list of the states that have issued proclamations can be found at Campus Firewatch (www.campus-firewatch). 

More information can be found on igot2kno can be found at both www.igot2kno.org and www.campus-firewatch.com.  An Information Sheet on campus fires since 2000 is also available at Campus Firewatch.

Campus Firewatch is a social enterprise focusing on campus fire safety. For more information, visit our website at www.campus-firewatch.com.
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Campus Firewatch ● P.O. Box 1046, Belchertown, MA ● 01007 ● 1-413-323-6002 (tel)
www.campus-firewatch.com● ecomeau@campus-firewatch.com