Boland Hall Fire

The Boland Hall Fire was a fatal fire in Boland Hall, a freshman residence hall on the Seton Hall University campus in South Orange, New Jersey on January 19, 2000. Three students died and many more were injured. It was one of the deadliest college fires in recent US history.

Two students who set the fire as a prank were indicted in mid-2003, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in late 2006, and were sentenced to five years' imprisonment in early 2007.

The blaze

The fire began around 4:30 AM on January 19 when most students were asleep. It spread rapidly across three couches in the third floor lounge and approached temperatures of up to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit (815 degrees Celsius) in less than five minutes. Though no accelerant was used, the fire burned hot enough to melt the synthetic carpet of the hall, causing severe injuries to many of the students attempting to escape the conflagration by crawling on the floor to reach the stairs. Most students on the third floor evacuated in the thick smoke using the staircases; a few jumped over 40 feet (12 meters) to the ground. Three students died. Aaron Karol and Frank Caltabilota died of thermal injuries, and John Giunta died due to smoke inhalation. Fifty-eight students and firefighters were injured, four seriously enough to require lengthy hospital stays and rehabilitation.

Another cause of the injuries/deaths was the fact that the residence hall went through several months of false fire alarms causing students to ignore the alarms, including the one warning of this fire.Fact|date=October 2007

Aftermath

The three students who died were honored with bachelor's degrees at the Class of 2003 graduation ceremony. The school now has a strict fire code for all residence halls and makes fire safety a top priority.

Legislation

The investigation following the fire revealed that Boland Hall lacked sprinklers [http://asumag.com/mag/university_fire_safety_line/] , although the university claimed that at the time, the residence hall was still in compliance with the building code. [http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1163656277107360.xml&coll=1] In response, New Jersey enacted the first mandatory residence hall sprinkler law in the nation. [http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/15/student.arson/]

Litigation

After a three-and-a-half year investigation, on June 12, 2003, a 60-count indictment charged two freshmen students, Sean Ryan and Joseph LePore, of starting the fire and felony murder for the deaths which resulted. Authorities charged Santino Cataldo with witness tampering and obstruction of justice based on his actions in the investigation. All of the charges against Santino Cataldo were eventually dismissed.

On November 15, 2006, LePore and Ryan admitted that they had set the fire and pleaded guilty to third-degree arson. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/nyregion/16seton.html] On January 26, 2007, they were sentenced to five years in a youth correctional facility, but will be eligible for parole in 16 months. The families of the victims strongly condemned the two suspects during the sentencing hearing, calling them "cowards" for running away after setting the fire instead of helping to evacuate the dorm. [http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=4973967]

Civil lawsuits by the victims' families are still pending. [http://1010wins.com/pages/127442.php?contentType=4&contentId=243392]

External links

* [http://www.nj.com/news/setonhallfire/ The Star Ledger's Seton Hall Fire page]
* [http://studentaffairs.shu.edu/housing/residencehalls/bolandhall.html Boland Hall] at Seton Hall University
* [http://www.shu.edu/news/20060120_boland_memorial_mass.cfm Sixth Anniversary of Boland Hall Fire] , Seton Hall University