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Fatal Fires Involving College Students in Recent U.S. History

A list of some deadly fires involving college students in recent U.S. history:

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By
The Associated Press

A list of some fatally fires involving college students in recent U.S. history:

  • Aug. 29, 1976: A fire believed to have been caused by careless smoking kills five Kappa Sigma fraternity members at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan.
 
  • Dec. 13, 1977: Ten female students are killed in a fire at Providence College's Aquinas Hall in R.I.
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  • Sept. 8, 1990: Three University of California, Berkeley students die and two are injured at the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. A visitor to the house admits starting the fire while playing with a lighter.
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  • Oct. 12, 1994: Five students at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania die after a sofa catches fire at Beta Sigma Delta fraternity house.
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  • May 12, 1996: Five students die and three are injured at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill at Phi Gamma Delta fraternity the day before graduation ceremony. Investigators blame a cigarette tossed into a trash can.
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  • Jan. 19, 2000: Three students die and 62 are injured in the freshman dormitory at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.
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  • March 19, 2000: Three students from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania are killed in the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity house off campus.
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  • April 13, 2003: Five students from Ohio State University and Ohio University are killed in an off-campus apartment building in Columbus. A fire broke out after a birthday party for one of the victims had been held earlier in the evening.
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  • Aug. 27, 2004: A fire that started in a basement bedroom of the Alpha Tau Omega house at the University of Mississippi kills three students.
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  • Oct. 7, 2005: A smoldering cigarette caused a fire that killed two North Carolina State University fraternity students at an off-campus duplex.
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  • Oct. 28, 2007: Six students from the University of South Carolina and one from Clemson University are killed in a fire at a house in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. where they had been spending the weekend. Six South Carolina students in the house survived.
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    Sources: National Fire Protection Association, Campus Firewatch, and WRAL.com reports.

    According to Campus Firewatch, over 80 percent of the campus-related fire fatalities across the country since January 2000 have occurred in off-campus housing. In 2006-07, there were 20 campus-related fire deaths, including one fatality at Halifax Community College in Weldon.

    Copyright 2024 by WRAL.com and the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.