The burning started at 4 a.m. Anthony Kralik, a senior digital media major at ETSU, had been reading by candlelight when he fell asleep in his off-campus apartment last October.
“September is National Campus Fire Safety Month,” said Daniel O’Brien, health and safety specialist and fire prevention manager at ETSU.
“I fell asleep with a candle on and when it burned down all the discarded matches inside there lit on fire and set off the smoke alarm,” Kralik said. “When I woke up I had no idea what was going on. I saw the flames coming from the candle and I just grabbed it to put it out.”
He spent the next hour running cold water over his hands with little relief before his roommate decided to take him to the emergency room, where he was treated for second-degree burns on eight of his fingers. “For three or four months I didn’t even have fingerprints,” Kralik said.
Not all off-campus fires are put out in time, however. According to the Center for Campus Fire Safety in Belchertown, Mass., 89 students have died nationally in off-campus fires since January 2000.
“Each of these fires could have been prevented if the students had been more aware of how their actions could have saved lives, but sadly fire safety is not the priority it should be with students, administrators, and parents,” wrote U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., in a letter to the president posted in the August 2006 Campus Firewatch newsletter.
That same Campus Firewatch noted, “A number of schools feel that since it occurs in the off-campus environment, they are not responsible for providing education or training to the students, that it is the responsibility of the local fire department or community to provide that information.”
According to the ETSU Web site, of the school’s near 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students, only about 2,000 live on campus.
“Basically the people that live in residence halls are given fire safety information but it’s (students living off-campus) definitely an area that needs some attention,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien says the most important things for students to look for when moving off-campus are smoke alarms, sprinkler systems, and fire extinguishers in or near the kitchen.
Lt. Rick Arnold of the Johnson City Fire Department agrees. “The number one thing is smoke detectors,” Arnold says. “Never smoke in bed or around furniture, and keep a fire extinguisher, especially around the kitchen area.
Arnold also advises students to make an escape plan. He says students who have roommates should make a plan about where to meet in case of a fire. “You don’t need to go rushing back in to find your friend if they’re not even there,” he said.
Candles have become a leading cause of fires, according to national statistics. Kralik understands this from personal experience. “Now when I burn candles, I tell my roommate and he supervises me,” he said.

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