Several fires have killed and injured university students nationwide in recent years, including the most recent fraternity house fire that killed three Bloomsburg University students in March. The measure, with nearly 50 bipartisan co-sponsors, would toughen sprinkler requirements and set up a loan program to help schools pay for installation. The bill would require public and private colleges and universities to provide sprinkler systems in student housing within five years. The bill also would establish a low-interest loan program to help schools pay for sprinkler installation. Most student housing facilities have smoke detectors.
Sprinkler systems go a long way in preventing tragedies from occurring.
Aside from the most recent Bloomsburg fire, a fraternity house fire killed five students at the university in 1994. Earlier this year, a Jan. 19 fire in a dormitory at Seton Hall University in New Jersey killed three students and critically injured six others. The federal government is debating legislation regarding sprinklers. Several states, including Wisconsin and New Jersey, have acted on measures requiring sprinkler systems in dormitories. Don Konkle, president of the Pennsylvania Fire Emergency Services Institute, said that since fire sprinklers were first installed more than 100 years ago, there has never been the multiple loss of life in a structure with sprinklers.