High Rise South fire leads to early morning bldg. evacuation

Although many students did not even stir when the High Rise South fire alarm sounded at 1:35 a.m. Saturday morning, those who did evacuate the building should be glad they did -- because this time, the alarm was for real. Students stood outside in unusually cold weather for almost two hours, as a fire which started in a trash chute around the seventh floor sent "smoke everywhere" on floors seven and up. Philadelphia Firefighters said the fire -- which set off at least 28 smoke detectors in the building -- was probably started when someone threw a lit object down the trash chute. Philadelphia Fire Engine Five crewmember Ron Toliver said the firefighters hosed water "all the way down" the garbage chute, from the 14th floor, to put out the flames. Assistant Fire Marshall and Lieutenant Thomas Lawson added that fire was spotted inside the trash chute in two different areas, causing smoke to rise to the building's higher floors. A related fire occurred on the seventh floor when a bulletin board was set on fire, he added. "I can assume the two fires are connected [because] both took place at the same time," he said. University Police Sergeant Thomas Messner said last night the firefighters checked "the entire building" after putting out the fire -- including the trash chute, the roof and the trash compactor in the building's basement. Messner added that due to an unusual cloudiness in the building in addition to the smoke, firefighters felt there was a "possibility" that "someone had smelled smoke and discharged a fire extinguisher into the fire chute." But, Messner said, University Police did not find any discharged fire extinguishers in the building. Lawson warned that while the perpetrators were not caught in this instance, the penalties for arson remain very strict. "I'm sure the person who did it thought it was a prank," he said. "It's a serious problem -- we take it seriously and will arrest for arson." Arson, Lawson added, carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. David Giadalone, head security and desk coordinator for the High Rises and the Quadrangle, stated in his incident report to Residential Living that the Fire Department was upset because students were still evacuating the building when the fire crew arrived. Toliver added that "a lot" of students never evacuated the building at all, which would have caused "a real problem" if the fire had spread and students needed to be rescued. "There's no excuse," Toliver said. "You never know if it's for real, so you have to take it as for real." Giadalone added that "the University never follows up on fines" which are supposed to be assessed if students fail to comply with Residential Living fire evacuation procedures. Students claim they are equally upset at the number of false alarms in their dormitories, which causes many students to ignore alarms which may signal real fires. In this instance, Toliver said, the Fire Department had already responded to a false alarm in HRS earlier in the evening around 10 p.m. Although College senior Joseph Rosales evacuated the building Saturday, he said he normally will not leave his room immediately during an alarm, because "normally it stops after a few minutes." "I was in the bathroom [this time] and someone knocked on the door," he said. "I hadn't planned on coming out, but I figured it was serious." Still, Lawson explained that people not evacuating apartment buildings is a city-wide problem. "People hear the fire alarm go off so often they get complacent about it," he said. "Sooner or later you have a tragedy." Messner echoed Lawson's sentiments. "We request that when people hear fire alarms in the buildings -- particularly the high rise buildings -- that they follow the posted evacuation plans to the letter," he said. "By not following the plans they can seriously jeopardize themselves and the firefighters." Messner added that if students could only see a fire victim in a burn center, they would "never, never" ignore a fire alarm again. But Wharton sophomore Nara Hory was another student upset at having to leave the building in the wee hours of the morning. "Smoke was everywhere in the hallway?[and] you can really smell it," Hory said. "I really don't like it -- I just want to go to bed." Hory eventually did get to bed, but not until almost 3:15 a.m. when the fire alarm stopped and students were permitted to re-enter the building. Giadalone, several residential advisors and the front desk staff urged students to open their dorm windows to help air out the building, especially on odd-numbered floors which do not have windowed lounges.