Campus sprinkler installation ongoing
Plan fits all residence halls by 2012
By: Colin Campbell, Staff Writer
Issue date: 11/27/07 Section: University
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The Department of Housing and Residential Education is embarking on a project to install fire sprinklers in all residence halls by fall 2012.
The installation will begin this summer with sprinklers being added to Everett, Lewis, Stacy and Hinton James residence halls.
Outfitting Hinton James with sprinklers will continue in summer 2009, while the other buildings will have complete sprinkler systems by next fall.
Installation will not take place during the school year because housing doesn't have the bed capacity to close halls for the project.
"We're going to need to accomplish this in the summer," said Larry Hicks, director of housing and residential education.
About $8 million of the project's $17.2 million budget will come from student rent revenues. The other $9.2 million will come from UNC's repair and renovation funds.
The University's construction funding also will be used to install sprinklers in Woollen Gym and Carmichael Auditorium, said Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor for facilities planning.
Sprinkler installations were originally scheduled to be complete by 2017, but the plan was expedited when the N.C. General Assembly passed a mandate requiring all public university housing be equipped with sprinklers by 2012.
The mandate was enacted in the aftermath of a deadly fire in 1996 at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house at UNC.
The fire - which killed five students and injured three others - also prompted the Chapel Hill Town Council to require sprinkler installation in all Greek houses.
"It is clearly the most effective way to protect people from fire," Chapel Hill fire Chief Dan Jones said.
But the law doesn't apply to campus housing, as the buildings are state-owned. Currently 56.8 percent of the 9,500 beds on campus are in rooms equipped with sprinklers.
The Princeton Review gave UNC a score of 82 on its 60-99 fire safety scale. All of N.C. State University's residence halls are equipped with sprinklers, and it scored a 96.
"We're about the middle of the pack," Hicks said, adding that adequate safety measures are in place. "Sprinkler systems are … not the only definition of fire safety," he said, citing alarms and extinguishers.
The structure of residence halls - many of which were constructed primarily with concrete - prevents the spread of fires, such as the one that destroyed a Carrboro apartment building Sept. 30, Hicks said.
He cited a 2005 electrical fire in Ehringhaus Residence Hall, which destroyed one room but had little impact on the rest of the building.
But Jones said the use of less flammable building material does not reduce the need for sprinklers.
"The building burning is not the threat to human life," Jones said. "It's furniture, decorations and carpeting. That's where the sprinklers come in."
Still, Steve Lofgren, assistant director for facilities, said he has no concerns about the level of fire safety on campus.
"I sleep well at night," he said.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
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