<p>i haven’t seen a thread about this yet. this is every parents nightmare.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/11107112/detail.html?rss=bos&psp=news[/url]”>http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/11107112/detail.html?rss=bos&psp=news</a>
<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/ap_on_re_us/fatal_fire_1[/url]”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070225/ap_on_re_us/fatal_fire_1</a></p>
<p>Below is a press release from an organization called Campus Firewatch. One of the most telling facts in this release is that 80% of the recent student fire related deaths occured in off-campus housing.</p>
<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</p>
<p>Contact: Ed Comeau, Publisher
Campus Firewatch
<a href=“http://www.campus-firewatch.com%5B/url%5D”>www.campus-firewatch.com</a> </p>
<p>413-323-6002 (tel)
413-896-5718 (cell)
<a href="mailto:ecomeau@campus-firewatch.com">ecomeau@campus-firewatch.com</a> </p>
<p>Fire in off-campus housing claims the lives of two Boston University students</p>
<p>Fire brings the total number of campus-related fatalities since January 2000 to 105</p>
<p>BELCHERTOWN, Mass., February 24, 2007— An early-morning fire in an off-campus, three-story, apartment building in Boston claimed the lives of two Boston University students. The fire was reported shortly after 5:00 a.m. by utility workers who were working behind 21 Aberdeen Street. The building had lost power earlier in the evening.</p>
<p>The workers called 911 and then entered the building to alert the occupants. They were unable to gain access to the top floor because of the fire conditions. Fire fighters entered a third floor apartment and found three victims, two males and a female. One of the males was transported in serious condition to an area hospital. The other two victims died in the fire. Thirty people from the fire building and an adjacent building were displaced by the fire and temporarily sheltered in a gymnasium at Boston University.</p>
<p>Since January 2000, there have been 105 campus-related fire deaths across the country, with 80 percent of them occurring in off-campus housing. A troubling fact that is emerging is the high number of people that have been killed in catastrophic, multiple-fatality fires, where three or more have died. Approximately 43 percent of the victims have been killed in 12 percent of the fires - in other words, a small number of fires are killing a large number of the victims.</p>
<p>Four common factors have been identified in a number of the off-campus fatal fires, including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Lack of automatic fire sprinklers</li>
<li>Missing or disabled smoke alarms</li>
<li>Careless disposal of smoking materials</li>
<li>Impaired judgment from alcohol consumption</li>
</ul>
<p>“It is critically important that students know how they can protect themselves from becoming a tragic victim of a fire,” said EdComeau, publisher of Campus Firewatch . “There are a number of steps that they can take that will help to improve their chances of either not having a fire, or surviving one if it does occur.”</p>
<p>These steps include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Live in housing equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler system.</li>
<li>Ensure that your housing has interconnected smoke alarms on all levels and that they are working at all times.</li>
<li>Take each alarm activation seriously and evacuate. If an alarm is being activated needlessly by cooking or by a shower, relocate the alarm, do not disable it.</li>
<li>Always know two ways out of the building you are in, whether it is your house, apartment, residence hall, movie theater or nightclub.</li>
<li>A number of fires have started because cigarettes have been carelessly discarded. Use ashtrays and dispose of the cigarette butts properly.</li>
<li>After a party, check the seat cushions on couches and chairs for cigarettes that may lie smoldering, waiting to start a fire in the middle of the night.</li>
<li>Do not overload extension cords which may cause them to overheat.</li>
<li>Make sure you have a fire extinguisher and, more importantly, know how to use it before the fire breaks out.</li>
</ul>
<p>“These are simple tips that can help save your life,” says Comeau. “To learn more, or if you should have any questions about your house or apartment, contact your local fire department for more information or to request an inspection.”</p>
<p>Coming form the area that the young lady was form - it is a grieving community - soo sad for such loss.</p>
<p>Boston had a tough weekend this weekend :(</p>