BELCHERTOWN, Mass. – On-campus fire safety legislation was reintroduced to congress Jan. 22, the seven-year anniversary of the fire deaths of three Seton Hall University students.
The Campus Fire Safety Right-To-Know Act of 2007 calls for colleges and universities to report the status of their fire safety to the U.S. Department of Eduction and the general public.
Since the Seton Hall University tragedy in 2000, 99 campus-related fire deaths have been reported. Ninety percent of these deaths occurred in off-campus housing. One of the latest of these incidents occurred this past month when a fire at an off-campus apartment building killed three Marshall University students.
Fourteen fire safety organizations co-signed a letter sent to every member of Congress asking for support of the legislation. Representatives Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and Joe Wilson (R-SC) introduced the legislation to the House of Representatives, while Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced it to Senate.
A copy of the legislation is available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.592. IH:.