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Both University of Wisconsin-La Crosse students escaped that day without injury, Ludwig said.
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Daniel Gengler of the National Fire Sprnkler Association talks about how fire spreads in a room to UWL students the dorm room on the righ had a sprinkler system, and the one on the left did not . The room was engulfed by flames in four minutes. Dick Riniker photo |
But a year later, the 23-year-old Talen lost his life in a house fire near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus while visiting his younger brother, a UW student.
His death last November inspired a fire safety campaign on the UW-L campus this week.
“It was personal for me after our first fire, and after the fire Peter was involved in, that took it to a new level,” said Ludwig, UW-L Student Association president. “So, it is a good time to bring the issue to light.”
Ludwig brought the idea to the UW-L administration, which partnered with the La Crosse Fire Department for the fire prevention campaign.
As part of the week, UW-L students, faculty and staff and passersby watched Wednesday as two makeshift dorm rooms — one equipped with sprinklers, the other without — went up in flames on campus grounds.
The sprinklers wiped out the small fire in one room in a matter of seconds, while the fire engulfed the other room in about three minutes.
As La Crosse firefighters put out the burning room, UW-L junior Galen Stielstra said he was surprised how fast the flames spread when unchecked by sprinklers.
“Sprinklers would be good,” he said, adding his own off-campus housing didn’t have such a system and they had disabled the smoke detectors because they’d go off while cooking.
“They should get put back together,” Stielstra admitted.
About 125 college students in the U.S. have died in fires since 2000, with a common factor being missing or disabled smoke detectors, said Paula Knudson, UW-L vice chancellor for student affairs and academic services.
While the top cause of campus fires is arson, the leading cause of fires that take student lives is smoking, said Daniel Gengler of the National Fire Sprinkler Association.
Gengler gave a presentation before the burn demonstration on fire prevention and what to do in a fire.
Students also were given about 350 batteries, purchased by Knudson and UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow, to encourage them to check smoke detectors.
Tim and Patty Talen of Plymouth, Wis., Peter Talen’s parents, helped hand out the batteries Wednesday.
“We are not just talking about smoke detectors and batteries, but real people,” Tim Talen said. “The number of students that die every year in fires is astonishing, and you don’t think about it until it affects your life personally. People don’t think about it, but we do every day.”
In his previous job as Nebraska Wesleyan University interim president, Gow donated a $24,000 farewell bonus to a fund to install sprinklers in campus fraternity houses after a fire in one house killed a 19-year-old student.
To view video of the fire demonstration, click below.
KJ Lang can be reached at (608) 791-8226 or klang@lacrossetribune.com.
