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Seton Hall dorm fire acts as a safety reminder

A dorm fire similar to the pre-dawn blaze that killed three Seton Hall University students while they slept yesterday is not likely to occur at UA residence halls, a housing official said.

"I believe that our buildings are reasonably safe in terms of fire safety," said James Van Arsdel, director of Residence Life. "Fire safety is something that we almost treat as a fetish."

Van Arsdel said all of the University of Arizona's nearly 20 residence halls are equipped with overhead sprinklers.

Even dorms dating back to the 1920s have been renovated with sprinklers and outlets for Tucson Fire Department hoses. Extinguishers are also located on every wing of the halls, and annual fire drills are required for every hall.

Van Arsdel said occasional small fires, often due to cooking or candle mishaps, have occurred over the years but a large scale fire has never occurred at a UA residence hall.

Residence hall fire alarms are connected with UAPD, who in turn notifies TFD. Van Arsdel said the department's response time is "excellent." However, students living on campus are not exempt from tragic accidents.

"Any place, any time there is the chance that a fire can happen and a person can be hurt or killed," Van Arsdel said. "That's terribly tragic, but that's the reality."

A string of earlier false alarms at Boland Hall at Seton Hall, South Orange, N.J., led most of the hall's 600 residents to ignore the early-morning alarm, which apparently started in a lounge. The building lacked sprinklers and working fire hoses.

Van Arsdel said that although false alarms occur at UA - 18 occurred since September at Seton Hall - the amount has dropped in recent years. False alarms at Coronado Residence Hall have dropped significantly since the addition of plastic covers over the pull stations and security cameras on each station over the past few years.

Molly Deane, a UA biochemistry and molecular and cellular biology senior who was a resident assistant at Coronado for two years, said that she, as an informed RA, felt safe in case of an emergency.

However, she said she wouldn't have felt so secure in the large, traditionally rowdy hall as a regular resident. Prank alarms were common during her time in the 800-resident dorm.

"We had easily 20 false alarms each semester between two and four in the morning," Deane said.

Many residents would assume the repeated alarms were false, despite urgings to evacuate the building - the same assumptions that caused the tragedy at Seton Hall.

"(A fire) is possible," Deane said. "I think it (could) really catch us off guard."

Van Arsdel agreed, saying danger is always possible among large groups of people.

"Anytime you put hundreds of people under one roof, there is a potential for tragedy. You can see in this incident an example of that," Van Arsdel said. "There's nothing we can do that can guarantee one's ultimate safety."

Electrical and computer engineering sophomore Paul Kountz, a resident of Kaibab-Huachuca Residence Hall, said he feels fairly safe in his dorm.

"The alarms are pretty loud, but I have slept through one of them - not much you can do about that one," he said. "But I feel pretty safe."

Van Arsdel suggested the Seton Hall fire should serve as a wake-up call for UA students and non-students alike.

In addition to recognizing the pain of the victims and their families, students should re-evaluate their fire safety behaviors and precautions.

"You can always say (Residence Life) can do more," Van Arsdel said. "There's always something more that students can do."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Hillary Davis can be reached at Hillary.Davis@wildcat.arizona.edu