THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 29, 1995 TAG: 9508290334
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Norfolk State University officials on Monday played down a weekend dormitory fire, but a Norfolk fire investigator said major code violations contributed to it and a tragedy was narrowly averted.
``It wasn't anything major,'' James Satterfield, NSU vice president of student affairs, said of the fire that occurred early Saturday evening in Scott Hall.
No one was seriously injured, but state arson investigators have been called in.
``It had all the ingredients for a major disaster,'' said Ed Palaszewski, supervisor inspector for the Norfolk Fire Marshal's office.
Serious code violations, he said, contributed to the spread of flame and smoke and hindered firefighters' efforts to quell the fire and clear the building, which normally houses 208 students.
The violations cited include storing mattresses in a stairwell, propping open a stairwell doorway, locking exit doors and failing to keep alarm systems operational.
Palaszewski said students would not be allowed to reoccupy the dorm until the violations are corrected.
The fire erupted at 7:37 p.m. in a pile of mattresses stored in the dorm's northwest stairwell. Thick smoke poured into the third-floor corridor and rooms through a wedged-open hall door, trapping some students in their rooms.
Firefighters rescued ``a few'' who were ``screaming and hollering at the windows,'' Palaszewski said.
Satterfield said that more than 100 students were in the dorm at the time. Many had arrived that day in preparation for the beginning of the semester Monday.
Palaszewski faulted university officials for failing to call Norfolk firefighters three hours earlier when the same pile of mattresses first caught fire. NSU security personnel apparently thought they had extinguished the blaze. But such fires ``can smolder a long time,'' Palaszewski said. Piles of mattresses also were stored in the building's two other stairwells.
Because Scott Hall's fire alarm system was not working, students had no warning as the smoke spread through the building.
When firefighters arrived, they were slowed in efforts to wet down the pile of at least six mattresses because it blocked the connection point for their hoses.
``The valve to hook the hose onto was right under, so they had to use something down the hall,'' Palaszewski said.
Doors key-locked from the inside prevented firefighters from leaving the building, he said. A lock had to be ``ripped off'' so that the dormitory could be emptied.
Displaced students were being housed elsewhere on and off campus with other students and relatives, Satterfield said.
No cost estimate of the damage was available. He said that university officials hope to have the dormitory ready for occupancy by week's end.
But if the time frame had been different, Saturday's fire could have been disastrous, Palaszewski warned.
``What happens,'' he asked, ``if the same scenario - door open, illegal storage, no alarms - takes place at 3 or 4 in the morning?''
KEYWORDS: FIRE NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY CODE VIOLATION by CNB