An off-campus house fire in College Park, Maryland claimed the life of Michael Anthony Scrocca, 22, a senior in finance from Somerville, New Jersey. This is the sixth student fatality in April, making it one of the most fatal months for student fire deaths across the nation.
According to a fire department spokesman, at approximately 4:30 am, a call was made to the Prince George’s Fire Department reporting a house fire. Whenfire department units arrived on the scene they found the front of thehouse well involved with fire extending on the exterior from the firstfloor up to the second floor and attic space. There were six occupants in the house at the time, and four were able to escape safely. Oneoccupant was forced to jump from the building and was transported tothe hospital with critical injuries as a result of the fire and thefall.
Firefighters entered the building and located Scrocca, who was inrespiratory arrest, on the second floor and he was transported to anarea hospital where he died. The fire required 65 fire department personnel and took 45 minutes to extinguish.
Nationwide,75 people have been killed in student housing since January 2000, asidentified by the Center for Campus Fire Safety, a non-profitorganization that compiles information on campus-related fires. Over 75% of the fire fatalities have occurred in off-campus occupancies, such as the one in College Park. Duringthis period, a total of 13 people have died in fires during April, thehighest of any month, and within the past three weeks six fatalitiesare counted among this total.
April 10, 2005 Three students were killed in an off-campus fire at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. That fire was caused by smoking materials, several smoke alarms were disabled and all three students were intoxicated.
April 24, 2005 A student died in an off-campus fire at Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania that was caused by electrical wiring and where several of the building’s smoke alarms had been disabled.
April 26, 2005 A student was killed in a residence hall fire at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. Thevictim did not evacuate immediately when the alarm sounded and latertried to exit the building through the smoke and was overcome.
“Disabledsmoke alarms, careless disposal of smoking materials and alcohol arefactors that we have seen in a number of fatal fires,” reported Ed Comeau, the director of the Center. “It is important that students learn the steps they can take to protect themselves, their friends and roommates from fire.” Some of these steps include:
- Install smoke alarms and ensure that they are working at all times.
- If a smoke alarm is being activated needlessly, such as by cooking orsteam from a shower, relocate the smoke alarm instead of disabling it.
- Properly dispose of smoking material using ashtrays.
- Check the cushions on couches and chairs to make sure there aren’t any lit cigarettes smoldering.
- Learn how to use a fire extinguisher
- Know two ways to get out of all buildings, wherever you are.
More information on campus fire safety can be found at the Center’s website at Campusfire.org, including a compilation of all of the fatal fires in student housing identified by the Center since January 2000. This compilation can be found in the RESOURCE section.
The Center for Campus Fire Safety
