Fraternity fire at the University of Missouri – St. Louis claims one student

Fire death is the third in less than two weeks at campuses across the nation

11/29/06
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ed Comeau, Director
Center for Campus Fire Safety
www.campusfire.org
413-323-6002 (tel)
413-896-5718 (cell)

BELCHERTOWN, Mass., November 29, 2006— Brian Schlittler , 25, a senior, was killed in an early morning fire today at the University of Missouri - St. Louis, Missouri. The fire was reported at 3:45 in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

This fire death comes less than two weeks after two other campus fire deaths across the nation. On November 16, a student was killed in a fraternity fire at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska, and on the same day a student from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, succumbed to injuries he received in an off-campus fire on November 4.

Nationwide, 92 people have been killed in campus-related fires since January 2000, as identified by the Center for Campus Fire Safety, a non-profit organization that compiles information on these fires. Almost 80 percent of the fire fatalities have occurred in off-campus occupancies such as rented houses and apartments. Common factors in a number of these fires include:

• Lack of automatic fire sprinklers
• Disabled smoke alarms
• Careless disposal of smoking materials
• Alcohol consumption

“It is vital that students learn the steps they can take to protect themselves, their friends and roommates from fire,” said Ed Comeau, director of the Center. Some of these include:

• Choose fire-safe housing, either on- or off-campus, that includes automatic fire sprinklers
• Make sure there are interconnected smoke alarms on every level and ensure that they are working at all times. Always evacuate whenever the alarm is activated.
• Know two ways out, no matter where you are – a residence hall, your house or apartment, a restaurant or a movie theater.
• If a smoke alarm is being activated needlessly, such as by cooking or steam from a shower, relocate the smoke alarm instead of disabling it.
• Properly dispose of smoking material by using ashtrays.
• After parties, check the cushions on couches and chairs to make sure there aren’t any lit cigarettes smoldering.
• Properly use extension cords and electrical appliances.

“Learning these fire safety behaviors will help people during their college years and throughout their lives,” said Comeau. “These are ‘life skills’ that might become ‘life-saving skills’ someday.”

More information on campus fire safety can be found at the Center’s Web site at www.campusfire.org, including a Campus Fire Safety Fact Sheet, compilation of all of the fatal fires in student housing identified by the Center, a list of questions that parents and students can ask when looking at student housing and video clips of training programs the Center has been involved with.

The Center for Campus Fire Safety, a leader in fire safety, is a non-profit organization that is devoted to reducing fires at campuses across the nation through education and advocacy.

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