THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230369
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 64 lines
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 pay for them.
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.
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 at an estimated cost of $759,000.
Hampton University, a private school with one high-rise dorm lacking sprinklers, plans to study installing sprinklers in that dorm, spokeswoman Richelle Payne said.
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.
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. Nutter said Slusher Hall will probably be the first dorm to receive sprinklers at the Blacksburg campus.
The 12 dorms meet the state fire code but lack sprinklers because they were built in the 1960s and '70s, before the 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-Windsor, 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.
The schools could receive state loans for the projects, but they would have to pay them back with interest, said Phyllis Palmiero, deputy for education and policy in the Department of Planning and Budget.
The president of Longwood College said that sprinklers will be installed this summer in Longwood's 10-story twin dorms, with or without state help.
The University of Virginia is not expecting any state funding and will pay for the sprinklers out of a housing revenue fund, spokes-woman Carol Wood said. Radford University will pay for the sprinklers from a reserve fund, said Tucker.
The other schools are awaiting word from the General Assembly before deciding how to pay for the sprinklers.
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.