Ninety-four percent of fatal campus fires occur in off-campus housing, according to a report by the U.S. Fire Administration. The goal of the study, which looked at campus fire data from 2000-2015, was to determine the leading factors contributing to these tragedies.
Findings
Between 2000 and 2015, 85 fatal campus fires in dormitories, fraternities, sororities and off-campus housing resulted in 118 fatalities, an average of seven per school year. Of the 118 deaths, 111 occurred in off-campus housing. Two-thirds of the victims were male.
Smoke Alarms
The risk of dying in a fire is cut in half in homes with working smoke alarms, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). In the fatal campus fires studied, 58 percent occurred in residences where there were no smoke alarms (20 percent) or in residences where the smoke alarms had been disconnected or had their batteries removed (38 percent).
Fire Sprinklers
Fire sprinklers cut the risk of dying in a fire by 80 percent, according to NFPA. None of the residences in the fatal campus fires studied had fire sprinklers.
Weekend Wee Hours
During the summer months, June, July and August, when fewer students are on campus, fewer fires occurred. Most of the fatal campus fires occurred in April, January, May and October. About 70 percent of fatal campus fires took place on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. And 73 percent took place between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m.
Alcohol
Alcohol was a factor in three-quarters of the fatal campus fires. Investigations of these fires found at least one of the students was legally drunk with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 percent or above impairing their ability to respond. Smoking
Smoking was the leading cause of fatal campus fires in this study, 29 percent of the fires were caused by smoking. Other causes were intentional actions (16 percent), electrical (11 percent) and cooking (9 percent). The cause of 18 percent of the fires was undetermined.
Source: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/campus_fire_fatalities_report.pdf