
DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711060467

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  114 lines

MANY DORMS STILL WITHOUT SPRINKLERS A YEAR AFTER REPORT, COLLEGES STRUGGLING TO GET WORK DONE BY 1999 DEADLINE

Nearly a year after seven Virginia universities were discovered to have high-rise dorms without fire sprinklers, most of the schools - including Hampton and Norfolk State universities - have yet to install the sprinklers.

Earlier this year, NSU predicted it would install sprinklers over the summer in Twin Towers, an 11-story complex with about 530 students.

But on Wednesday, Curtis G. Maddox, vice president for operations, said the work would be delayed until spring break next year because of detailed planning, including design work and contract bids. He estimated the cost at $700,000 to $1 million.

At Twin Towers Wednesday, some students expressed concern about the lack of sprinklers.

``They shouldn't even have this place open if there are no sprinkler systems,'' said Cherise Hagans, a 17-year-old freshman who lives on the sixth floor of the women's wing. ``. . . If something happened to us, they, the administration, would be responsible.''

Latisha Jackson, an 18-year-old freshman who lives on the fourth floor, said: ``I think they should repair it now. . . . It's a hazard for all students on the higher floors.''

But university officials said the dorm had fire hoses on every floor and the top floor has been vacated this year as an extra precaution.

Two weeks ago, the Norfolk Fire Department reported a fire in a first-floor room at NSU's Lee Smith Hall. Fire damage was limited to one room, but smoke damage also was reported on the first floor. No one was injured.

Hampton University also plans to install sprinklers in DuBois Hall, a seven-floor dorm with 200 students, next summer, spokeswoman Joy Jefferson said. The project will cost about $233,000, she said.

``We didn't do it this summer because we were waiting on estimates, and it got to be too late,'' she said.

James Madison University plans to install sprinklers in its high-rise dorm next summer, and Radford University by January 1999.

The University of Virginia is the only university of the seven to have completed the work last summer. Longwood College installed sprinklers in the top floors of two 10-story dorms in August, and it plans to cover the lower levels next summer. Virginia Tech equipped one dorm over the summer and plans to retrofit four others over the next two summers.

Late in November 1996, the Associated Press reported that there were no sprinklers in 12 dorms of at least seven stories at seven Virginia colleges. The buildings house about 7,000 students.

The universities were not violating state law, which didn't require sprinklers in high-rise dorms built before 1991. But in March, the General Assembly amended the law to require that sprinklers be installed in all high-rise dorms by September 1999.

Representatives of most of the colleges said the timing put them in a bind this year: They had to wait until the legislature acted before they could plan the work, which requires architectural designs and bidding for construction contracts. And that didn't provide enough time to get the work done over the summer, the only period the dorms are empty.

``We've really handled it as quickly as we could,'' said David Nutter, a spokesman for Tech. ``These have to be planned out; it takes a lot of architectural work. It's not as simple as running a pipe down the hallway.''

College officials say other precautions are in place to guarantee the students' safety in the interim. At Hampton, for instance, DuBois has smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and round-the-clock supervision, Jefferson said.

``I don't think you should be concerned,'' she said. ``We have everything in place if there happens to be a fire, to alert students and get them out safely. We wouldn't have students in the dorm if we didn't think it was safe.''

But Ben Roy, executive secretary of the Fire Marshals Association of North America, compared high-rises without sprinklers to ``rolling the dice. Who knows whether something will happen or won't happen?''

``If you talk to most any fire-safety professional,'' Roy said, ``they're going to say the absolutely best way to protect lives in a (high-rise) sleeping environment is with automatic sprinkler protection.'' Roy added, however, that most laws mandating sprinklers allow two to three years for installation.

State Education Secretary Beverly H. Sgro said she wasn't concerned that the sprinklers weren't installed yet in most dorms: ``I think it's probably reasonable for them to have to do it over two summers. It can be extremely disruptive to students with that kind of construction. But I wouldn't want to see them extend it indefinitely.''

The cost of the projects ranges from Hampton's $233,000 to Tech's $5.6 million. The state did not allot money, despite an initial promise by Gov. George F. Allen, for the projects but is providing loans. Most schools will tap into university housing funds, which come at least in part from student fees. MEMO: Campus correspondent Valerie Davis contributed to this

story.Campus correspondent Valerie Davis contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Sprinklers were installed in all rooms of the University of

Virginia's 300-student Bice House, formerly known as the Brandon

Avenue Housing Complex, in August, spokeswoman Louise Dudley said.

The cost was $600,000.

Longwood installed sprinklers this summer on the 6th through 10th

floors of Curry and Frazer dorms, which house 900 students. The rest

of the work will be done next summer, for a total cost of $1

million, spokesman Dennis Sercombe said.

Virginia Tech put sprinklers in O'Shaughnessy Hall, with 355

students, over the summer, Nutter said. Two dorms - Slusher and

Pritchard, with total populations of 1,400 - will get them next