Searches May Have Prevented Fire

This year, residence halls were kept open during Fall Break, meaning resident assistants were not able to search for banned items -- like halogen lamps -- in residents' rooms.

But residence hall room inspections are scheduled to be completed during both Thanksgiving Break and Winter Break, said Assistant Housing Director Rebecca Casey.

Officials said Monday that Thursday's afternoon fire on the fourth floor of Craige caused damage to the room mainly with smoke and not with actual flames.

The fire in Room 456 started when a halogen lamp fell onto a mattress.

Casey said Thursday that a delay in the activation of the residence hall's fire alarm would be investigated.

Freshman Tiffany McGinnis, who lives above Room 456, said she and her roommate smelled smoke five to 10 minutes before she heard any alarms going off.

But Casey said Monday that the alarms functioned properly.

"They can be activated in an individual room as opposed to the whole hallway," Casey said.

She said that when the Chapel Hill Fire Department arrived at the residence hall in response to the activated smoke alarm in Room 456 and opened the door to the room, the hallway fire alarms were activated.

Robert Bosworth, chief deputy of operations for the Chapel Hill Fire Department, said the renovation work on the room most likely will include replacing the ceiling and repainting the room. He said most of the damage occurred to the bed linen and the mattress.

The two residents of the room have been temporarily placed in other rooms on campus.

"It's amazing how intrusive smoke (and the smell of it) can be," Bosworth said.

He could not speculate about the damage to the residents' possessions, but he said any clothes in the room are going to smell like smoke.

"Things don't have to burn up to be lost in a fire," he said.

Bosworth said he is not sure when the residents will be able to move back into the room.

Casey said the University will not assume liability for any of the residents' ruined possessions.

Halogen lamps are not permitted in residence halls because of their tendency to start fires.

"My understanding is that they generate a lot of heat," Casey said.

Bosworth said it is not routine to see fires caused by halogen lamps, although they do occur.

He said a halogen lamp is not that dangerous as long as the grill over the lamp's light bulb is in place.

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.