Colonie A, an apartment building owned by RPI, was the site of a fire two weekends ago. A lit candle left on top of a bureau tipped over and started the incident, but the fire was put out by the sprinkler system before the Troy Fire Department arrived on the scene. The apartment was on the third floor, and the two rooms below it, in addition to the room itself, suffered extensive water damage. Candles are specifically prohibited by residence life policy, and disciplinary action is being taken against the student.
“This is a very serious matter,” said Vice President for Student Life Eddie Knowles. “We do not take student safety lightly. This is a clear violation of our rules and regulations. We have been very clear in communicating to students their responsibilities in living in the halls.”
The sprinklers that suppressed the fire were installed two years ago as part of a recently-completed effort to put a sprinkler head in every residential room owned by RPI. Fire has always been a major concern of residence hall administrators, and sprinklers were settled on as the best prevention system.
“Our assessment is that if it weren’t for the sprinklers, we would have had a fatality,” said President Shirley Ann Jackson.
Knowles agreed. “This would have been an entirely different outcome if those sprinklers had not been there,” he said. “There’s no question in my mind. The fact that I am sitting here without having to report a loss of life is the best news to me.”
Residence Life has asked resident advisors and apartment managers to talk to students to describe the incident. Knowles said the extra meeting is necessary because sometimes the original warnings fall on deaf ears.
“You don’t take it seriously because you don’t think it could ever happen to you,” he said. “But we cannot move on as a community until we pause and use this as a teachable moment.”
After the smoke alarms went off, students helped wake up their peers and ensured that everyone was out of the building. While the action was commendable, Knowles said, it was not ideal. “We don’t want students trying to be heroes in these incidents. A student’s number one concern in this situation should be getting himself out.”
While the new sprinklers did prevent further fire damage in this incident, they have caused problems in other areas. A student playing darts in his Stacwyck room—also prohibited by residence life rules—accidentally struck a sprinkler head with a dart and set it off. The water damaged the new ceiling tiles and carpets in three of Thompson Hall’s apartments, displaced 14 students for the night, and shut off the building’s power. The building had been recently remodeled after it sustained damage in a thunderstorm approximately a year ago.
Residence Life is collecting information about the personal belongings damaged in both incidents and examining compensation.
It has been several years since the last fire on the RPI campus. According to Knowles, the conditions for that fire were ideal, with most of the students in the building either already moved out for the year or taking finals at that time. In addition, several deans were walking by the building at the time and heard the alarms go off. RPI was honored at the time for its efficiency in making sure that the emergency was dealt with swiftly.
