HRS fire sparks concerns

Only about 100 students left the building when the alarm sounded early yesterday morning. and Michael Brus A small fire in High Rise South early yesterday morning has prompted a debate about the University's fire safety procedures. Four engines, three ladders and two fire chiefs from the Philadelphia Fire Department's Station Five responded to a one-alarm fire at 4:17 a.m., according to Fire Department spokesperson Robert Dickson. The fire -- which was caused by an overheated motor in the heating system of HRS room 1814 -- was extinguished by 4:41 a.m., Dickson said. He explained that a large number of trucks and manpower were sent to the scene to aid in the evacuation of the building, adding that a complete evacuation is standard procedure for a fire in a building of that size. But High Rise South was not evacuated during the fire. Only approximately 100 students left the building after the alarm sounded, while many others waited in fireproof stairwells. But many residents said they did not leave their rooms, and some said the alarm was not even loud enough to wake them. "I slept right through it," said College and Engineering sophomore Laura Swibel, who lives in room 1711 -- one floor below the fire. She added that her two roommates, as well as her neighbors in room 1710, also slept through the alarm. "The fire alarm is right outside [room 1710's] door," Swibel said. "The fact that [the fire] was one floor above and I didn't know disturbs me." Two floors above Swibel, College sophomore Matthew Morrow awoke to sound of the alarm and began to smell smoke. "All I know is it was coming into our apartment and it didn't smell nice," he said after evacuating the building with his roommates. Only two of the residents of room 1813 -- next door to the fire -- woke up when the alarm went off. College sophomore Peter Schell said he and his roommate had to wake up two other suitemates before all of them evacuated. A roommate said he initially thought the smoke was coming from the suite's own air conditioner. During fire drills, residential advisors are expected to knock on students doors to wake them and to insure that they remain in stairwells of exit the building. But Karen Hudson, one of the two HRS residence heads, said she will not permit her RAs to put their lives at risk by remaining behind to knock on students' doors during a real fire. Hudson added that she did not believe that students had problems hearing the alarms. "They're pretty loud," Hudson said. "I mean, they woke me up, so I tend not to have too much sympathy for people who say they didn't wake up." Hudson added that the evacuation was not successful because students refused to leave their rooms. Some students admitted that they heard the alarm, but didn't bother to leave. Wharton sophomore Lawrence Schlyen said the alarm woke him up, but he went back to sleep. "My window is overlooking [the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house], so I thought it might have been [a fire in] ZBT, and I was too lazy to get up and see what it was," Schlyen said. "This morning I didn't know if it was a dream or not." Hudson said she was "extremely disturbed" by residents' reaction to the fire alarm and will conduct sessions to educate students about the need for prompt evacuation. Associate Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta said the audibility of alarms is an important issue, and that he will look into it today. "We are one of the better schools in the country for safety codes, but if there's even a remote possibility that the audibility is a problem then I will look into tomorrow morning," Moneta said last night. He added that sound quality will probably be tested by placing decibel meters or residential staff in the buildings during the next fire drill.