# Fire at OSU kills 5 Students **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 14, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-at-osu-kills-5-students/168523 "2003-04-14T01:02:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grasshopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Grasshopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grasshopper)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-at-osu-kills-5-students/168523/1 "2003-04-14T01:02:38Z")
I ran a few errands with my sister this morning, and when we headed home, we took an alley on E. 17th Avenue. When we passed one house, we saw a police car and police tape marking off one house. My sister saw one girl standing with her hand over her mouth, and we knew something was very wrong. As we actually drove past the house, my sister saw the top floor was all burnt. We thought that was pretty sad, a house catching fire, and we hoped it was only the house that was damaged. A couple hours later, I check my email and there was a message from Ohio State president Karen Holbrook. It starts - “All of us are deeply saddened by the tragedy of the fire that occurred early Sunday morning on 17th Avenue. Five young people have died, and several others were injured. Still others have lost their friends, homes, property and sense of security.” The message is very similar to the one issued on OSU’s website [here](http://www.osu.edu/news_db/lvl2_news_story.php?id=420). There’s also a story being run on CNN now right [here](http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/04/13/fatal.fire.ap/index.html) . Most of the buildings in the OSU off-campus area are really old, and they’re saying this fire is suspicious and there was a fight earlier in the night. My dad has always been so worried about the chances for fire in these old buildings, he made me and my two roommates have four fire extinguishers in our house, one for the kitchen and one in each bedroom. I always thought he was paranoid. Now I’m trying to think if I know anyone who lived around E. 17th and Indianola. Damn ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Grasshopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Grasshopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grasshopper)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-at-osu-kills-5-students/168523/2 "2003-04-14T01:28:17Z")
I found another link to the story [here.](http://www.newsnet5.com/news/2109356/detail.html) ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-at-osu-kills-5-students/168523/3 "2003-04-14T04:17:52Z")
It is unfortunate that these tragedies continue, despite the best efforts of Fire and Code Enforcement officials. Common ingredients are located amongst the ashes of these incidents, you may choose any and all, depending upon the particular occurrence. **Lack of sprinkler system throughout occupancy Missing or inoperative smoke detectors Careless handling of smoking materials Unattended candles Electrical violations, typically involving faulty or improperly applied extension cords** The part I find most irksome is that when requests are made to upgrade the safety of an occupancy like this, cost is frequently cited as the reason to avoid the improvement. Speaking for the career and volunteer firefighters of this nation, we’d gladly trade any number of false alarms for one person carried out in a body bag. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jessity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jessity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jessity)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-at-osu-kills-5-students/168523/4 "2003-04-14T12:40:05Z")
They’ve released the names of four of the students who died in the fire. Two Ohio State students, three Ohio University students. [NBC 4 Link](http://www.nbc4columbus.com/news/2110069/detail.html). **danceswithcats** - According to the news last night, the building was up to code with either four or six (can’t remember) functioning smoke alarms in the house.