Union members rally for dorm sprinklers

                          Wednesday, January 24, 2001

                          By John M.R. Bull, Post-Gazette Harrisburg
Correspondent

                          HARRISBURG -- Jamie Dezzi watched his fraternity
brother burn to death in
                          an early morning fire that raced through the Tau
Kappa Epsilon house at
                          Bloomsburg University last year.

                          Dezzi, of Philadelphia, escaped. Three other
students died and three were
                          injured.

                          Yesterday, Dezzi rallied support for a bill that
would mandate that fire
                          sprinklers be installed in all dormitories and
fraternity and sorority houses at
                          every college and university in the state, as is
being done in New Jersey.

                          If his fraternity had sprinklers, there would have
been time for everyone to
                          escape, Dezzi said.

                          "I lost three brothers on March 19, 2000," Dezzi
said, choking back tears. "It
                          was fast. It was unfair. It was too fast. All we
needed was a few more
                          seconds. A few more seconds, that's all we're asking
for. I think about it
                          every day."

                          The bill passed the House overwhelmingly in
November, but it died when the
                          Senate did not act on it and the legislative session
ended.

                          The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Mike McGeehan,
D-Philadelphia, reintroduced
                          it yesterday and organized a rally attended by
roughly 1,000 union members,
                          many of whom were bused to the Capitol.

                          "We don't need to look past Bloomsburg ... to know
this is so critically
                          needed," said McGeehan.

                          Some union members held signs that read, "How high
must the body count
                          rise?" and others that claimed 1,800 fires break out
each year in student
                          housing.

                          Requiring the installation of fire sprinklers at a
statewide cost of between
                          $125 million and $400 million would create hundreds
of jobs.

                          McGeehan's bill already has 69 co-sponsors. The bill
would give all colleges
                          and universities five years to install sprinklers,
but provides a two-year
                          extension for schools experiencing financial
difficulties or other hardships. The
                          bill would cover all new and existing dormitories
and fraternity and sorority
                          houses, as well as any buildings that had been
converted to residential use.

                          The bill would create a $125 million loan fund, the
amount McGeehan said
                          experts consider to be the price tag statewide. Some
critics of the bill,
                          however, estimate the cost at $400 million.

                          "We are aware this is an enormous burden for
colleges and universities,"
                          McGeehan said. "But I think we have a moral
obligation" to students.

                          The cost boils down to $50 per student a year, which
is "the equivalent of five
                          pizzas a year," he said.

                          If the bill becomes law, the state loans taken out
by colleges and universities
                          to install sprinklers will have to be repaid, a cost
likely to be passed on to
                          students, noted state Rep. Sara G. Steelman,
D-Indiana.

                          "But what they are getting for that money is
priceless," she said.

                          Few people appear to be against the idea of seeing
sprinklers installed. The
                          issues are whether the state should mandate it, who
should pay for them and
                          how quickly should it be done.

                          Some critics say five years is not enough time and
prefer to see a 10-year
                          deadline. "That's unacceptable," McGeehan snapped
yesterday. "We've
                          heard all these complaints in New Jersey and it's
working there."

                          In April, the State System of Higher Education
announced it will install
                          sprinklers in every one of its campus dormitory
rooms under a five-year
                          program that is estimated to cost between $25
million and $50 million.

                          The work will affect 33,000 students who live in
residence halls on the
                          system's 14 state university campuses, including
California, Clarion, Edinboro,
                          Indiana and Slippery Rock in Western Pennsylvania.

                          University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University
officials already have
                          announced plans to retrofit all of their residence
halls with sprinklers.

                          Some private campuses, including Carnegie Mellon
University, have similar
                          plans.

                          At Penn State, only nine of the 52 off-campus
fraternities are equipped with
                          fire sprinklers, state Rep. Lynn Herman, R-State
College, said yesterday.

                          "This is a great piece of legislation," said
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President
                          William George. "We give it 100 percent
endorsement."

Doug Gordner, Life Safety Inspector
Ithaca College Campus Safety
Life Safety Division
101 Safety Building
Ithaca, New York 14850
(607)-274-1846
(607)-274-1868 (fax)
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CFSI-1
Member:
National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA)
International Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI)