Dorm safety precaution to cost $48 million
 
By Jane Stancill
The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)
Copyright 2007 The News and Observer

GREENVILLE, N.C. — Eleven years after a fraternity house fire killed five students at UNC-Chapel Hill, about 35 percent of the UNC system's dormitories still do not have sprinklers.

UNC President Erskine Bowles wants to finish the job, but it will cost $48 million.

On Friday, the UNC Board of Governors voted to ask the legislature for the money this year, with hopes of completing the work in 2012.

Bowles said he has had a nagging feeling about the danger to students. "I just couldn't get it out of my mind. ... I couldn't live with myself if we had a fire and we hadn't sprinklered these dorms."

All dorms have smoke detectors, and most are connected to a central monitoring system. Since 1996, every new residence hall has been built with sprinklers, and major renovations have included the lifesaving devices.

But adding sprinklers is a long and expensive process. Because the renovations are extensive, dorms have to be shut down for months. And closing too many at one time isn't an option for growing universities.

There has been progress, though. In 1996, only 11 percent of public university dorms had sprinklers. Now, 65 percent have them.

There are 317 state-owned residence halls across the 16 campuses. Four universities -- East Carolina, N.C. School of the Arts, UNC-Charlotte and UNC-Greensboro -- do not have sprinklers in more than half of their dorms. Winston-Salem State is the only campus with the devices in all residence halls.

Last year, a fire at an East Carolina dorm forced an evacuation and displaced 335 students. One student was treated for smoke inhalation. That building did not have sprinklers.