Dormitory fire kills one student, critically injures another
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The following information has been compiled from a variety of media,
university, and government Internet sources and has not been independently
verified at this time. As such, no claim is made as to the accuracy of the
information being provided until independent verification can be made.
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Summary prepared by Ed Comeau, Chief Fire Investigator
NFPA Fire Investigations Team
Saturday, September 19, 1998

A fire in an 8 story dormitory at Murray State University occurred on
Friday, September 18th at approximately 2:30 a.m. One 19 year old male
sophomore was killed. A 21 year old male was flown to Vanderbilt Medical
Center in Nashville with 3rd degree burns on 10 to 20 percent of his body. No
information was available about his condition when the medical center was
contacted on Saturday evening.

The building where the fire occurred, Hester Hall, is an eight story
dormitory. According to information from Murray University and news sources
the building had been built in 1968 and was not equipped with a fire
sprinkler system. High rise buildings constructed after 1972 are required to
be equipped with a sprinkler system, so this building pre-dated that
requirement. None of Murray State's dorms has sprinklers, according to Larry
Anderson, assistant director of safety and facilities management at the
school.

The building was equipped with smoke detectors according to information
provided by Murray University. Presently, no information is available
regarding the smoke detection system. The building housed 300 students. Men
were housed on floors 1 through four, and women were housed on floors five
through eight.

The fire occurred at approximately 2:30 a.m. on the fourth floor of the
building. Officials have declared that it is incendiary. A previous fire
had been reported in the building last Sunday. One student reported a
fire in the hallway as he was trying to escape that blocked his escape, and
he was forced to retreat to a window.

Some students had to be rescued over aerial apparatus.

Murray State University is located in Murray, Kentucky, which is in the
western portion of Kentucky, just north of the Tennessee border. The
university has 8,600 students and encompasses 232 acres.

The Murray Fire Department is a fully paid department of 29 fire fighters
with two fire stations. Total pump capacity is 5,000 gallons per minute
from three class A pumpers and one 105' aerial platform. The department is
also equipped with an 85' ladder truck and two rescue vehicles.

(c) NFPA Fire Investigations Department
617-984-7467 (tel)
617-984-7056 (fax)
investigations@nfpa.org
www.nfpa.org/investigations.html
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This information has been compiled from a variety of media, university,
and government Internet sources and has not been independently verified at
this time. As such, no claim is made as to the accuracy of the
information being provided until independent verification can be made.
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