On-Campus Fires: A Growing Danger

Just as kids head off to college, new government figures show on-campus fires almost doubling since 1998.

And that, says The Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen, is a big cause for concern for students and their parents.

Fire safety laws vary significantly from state-to-state, Koeppen reports. That's why experts say, if your child is leaving for school, fire prevention needs to be a top priority.

Dana Christmas knows that all too well.

When fire broke out in a dorm at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., Christmas, a resident assistant, tried desperately to get her students to safety, putting herself at risk.

"I'm knocking and I'm yelling and I'm screaming, 'It's a fire! Fire! Guys, get up! It's a fire. It's a real fire,' " Christmas said. "My scalp was on fire. My hair was burning. And my fingertips, they were on fire. They were burning."

It was Jan. 19, 2000, shortly after 4 a.m., when hundreds of students were forced to flee their residence hall. The fire started in a third-floor lounge, on the floor where Christmas was in charge.

"And no matter where you go, there's smoke," she recalled. "It's like you're living a nightmare. And you want to escape."

At that point, she still didn't run to try to save herself. She stayed behind to try to get other students out.

"(During) my last attempt to alert the residents of the fire, I collapsed on the floor," she said.

Burned over 60 percent of her body, Christmas was one of 58 students injured in the blaze. Three students died.

"Just to know that they suffered like that with the immense smoke and the fire and being engulfed in all the flames," Christmas said, "is just why I would like to see sprinklers installed throughout the entire nation."

Since then, Seton Hall has installed sprinklers, but many colleges still don't have them in their residence halls.

And that, Koeppen points out, can be cause for concern: According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, on-campus fires are on the rise, jumping from more than 1,800 in 1998 to nearly 3,300 in 2005.

"Students should know where the risks occur: in cooking, in smoking, in candles, and overloaded power cords are really the places where the biggest risk of fire when kids go off to school," CPSC's Julie Vallese said.

With the help of FM Global, a large insurance company, CBS News witnessed firsthand just how important a sprinkler system can be in a dorm setting.

Also invited to the demonstration were representatives of more than 50 colleges and universities.

In FM Global's massive burn lab, engineers constructed two typical dorm rooms. Both were set on fire; one room had a sprinkler, the other didn't.

In the first test, a fire was started in a trash can filled with paper. One minute and 22 seconds later, the smoke alarm went off. At three minutes, a real fire was blazing. Four minutes into the blaze, the temperature approached 1,000 degrees. At four minutes and 41 seconds, flashover, and shortly after that, the windows blew out.

At that point, technicians stepped in to put out the blaze.

Dorm room No.1 was destroyed.

"We saw flames shoot out the door," FM Global's Dennis Waters said. "They went out a window. It was intense. It was very intense. We had temperatures of about 1,850 degrees on the ceiling during that fire test."

Anyone living in the dorm room would have had only minutes to escape. And the fire easily could have spread to other rooms.

Now, in the second test, a fire was started in a trash can in the dorm room with the sprinkler.

This time, the smoke alarm sounded at 51 seconds.

At one minute and 34 seconds, the sprinkler activated. Almost immediately, the room cleared of smoke and most of the flames were extinguished.

A fire continued in the corner, but the flames were contained by the sprinkler. The maximum temperature reached in this room was 305 degrees.

Waters said: "The difference, of course, is — this room was sprinklered."

And because of that, he says, the fire was contained.

Added Waters: "The fire was confined to that space and would not have gone anywhere but that space."

And the fire department would "absolutely" have gotten there in time, he notes. So, there's no question for parents that a room with a sprinkler is the one they would want for their kids.

Christmas says parents, students and lawmakers need to take fire safety on campus seriously.

"No one else deserves to be put in the situation that I have been in," she said. "Parents: Get active. Students: Get active. Don't put your life in the hands of someone else. If you can do something about it, take action now."

PREVENTION TIPS

So, says Koeppen: Students and their parents must: