ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press RICHMOND
THE HIGH-RISE DORMS, built before state law required sprinkler systems, extend beyond the reach of fire ladders.
Four Virginia public colleges plan to install fire sprinkler systems in all of their high-rise dormitories by the end of the summer, even if the state doesn't help them pay for it.
Longwood College, the University of Virginia, Norfolk State University and James Madison University are among six state-supported colleges with a total of 12 high-rise dorms that lack sprinklers in student living areas. The dorms house about 7,000 students.
Virginia Tech, with five of the dormitories, hopes to begin installing sprinklers in at least one of the buildings during the summer, spokesman Dave Nutter said Wednesday. Tech is still studying which one will get sprinklers first, he said.
Radford University will put the life-saving devices in 13-story Muse Hall by August 1998, said spokesman Rob Tucker. Muse is the tallest dorm in the state without sprinklers.
Fire ladders will not reach top floors of Muse Hall, the Curry and Frazer dorms at Longwood, Norfolk State's Twin Towers and Virginia Tech's Slusher Hall.
The 12 dorms meet the state fire code but lack sprinklers because they were built in the 1960s and '70s, before the fire-suppressant systems were required. In 1991, the state mandated sprinklers in new dorms of more than three stories, but did not require them in existing dormitories.
The colleges estimate it will cost at least $9.4 million to put sprinkler systems in the dormitories, and they may get some help from the General Assembly.
Sen. Richard Holland, D-Isle of Wight County, said he will introduce a budget amendment that would require the state to pay one-third of the cost of installing sprinklers in the Longwood dorms, which are in the area he represents. The law forbids use of general fund money for such projects.
The state allowed the dorms to be built without sprinklers and ``bears some of the blame,'' Holland said.
Holland, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said the amendment probably would be expanded to cover all the colleges that have high-rise dorms without sprinklers.
``Suppose there was a tragic fire in one of these dorms without sprinklers. Good heavens, what would happen then?'' Holland said.
In addition to the possibility of injuries and loss of life, ``it would make the state look terrible, and there might be millions of dollars in liability,'' he said.
The schools could receive state loans for the projects, but they would have to pay it back with interest, said Phyllis Palmiero, deputy for education and policy in the Department of Planning and Budget.
The president of Longwood College said sprinklers will be installed this summer in Longwood's 10-story twin dorms, with or without state help.
``No matter what, we're going to do this,'' Patricia Picard Cormier said in interview Monday.
In the interim, the Army National Guard has agreed to send Black Hawk helicopters to airlift students from Frazer and Curry halls if necessary, Cormier said. Sixteen students were injured in a 1987 fire in Frazer hall. Curry caught fire in 1991, but no one was injured.
UVa is not expecting any state funding and will pay for the sprinklers out of a housing revenue fund, spokeswoman Carol Wood said.
Radford University will pay for the sprinklers from a reserve fund, Tucker said.
The other schools are waiting word from the General Assembly before deciding how to pay for the sprinklers.
James Madison University is negotiating a contract to put sprinklers in its one high-rise this summer, spokesman Fred Hilton said.
And Norfolk State University spokesman Gerald Tyler said the school is soliciting sprinkler engineers and installers to put the systems in its Twin Towers during the summer.
The schools said summer is the best time to install the sprinklers because the buildings are generally unoccupied.
Hampton University, a private school with one high-rise dorm lacking sprinklers, also plans to study installing sprinklers in that dorm, spokeswoman Richelle Payne said.
In another development, the House of Delegates unanimously passed a bill Wednesday requiring the state fire marshal's office to inspect dormitories at public colleges annually.
The fire marshal had stopped the routine annual inspections because of budget cuts, leaving the task largely to the colleges themselves.
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