| 1075, I've wondered about sprinkler systems in dorms, but they don't seem to be very common.
There was a dorm fire at the Southern Adventist University in Tennessee just this past week, and one student, a girl from Illinois, was killed. Smoke detection alarms went off and the students all evacuated except this girl. Her roommate said that the girl went toward the fire, instead of away from it, even though she called out to the girl to come back. The fire started on a couch in a kitchenette/lounge area.
The chief of the area fire dept. has said in public statements that sprinklers are for building protection, not protection of life. He said smoke alarms are supposed to go off early enough for students to evacuate and that sprinklers will not go off until the temp. reaches 200 degrees. He said that sprinklers may or may not have made a difference. |