Freshman killed in off-campus fire at Indiana University - Bloomington

First campus-related fire death of the 2011-2012 academic year

BELCHERTOWN, Mass., October 2, 2011 – A fire in an off-campus apartment complex claimed the life of Renee Orhn, 19, according to an official from Indiana University - Bloomington.  Ms. Orhn was a freshman from Gary, Indiana and had not declared a major yet.  

According to a spokesperson from the Bloomington Fire Department the fire was reported at 3:37 a.m. on Saturday, October 1 in the Terra Trace apartments at 321 East 14^th Street, a three-story apartment building.  More information will be released at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

This is the first campus-related fire death in the 2011-2012 academic year.  Since January 2000, Campus Firewatch has documented 147 campus-related fire deaths with 85% of them occurring in off-campus housing, where approximately 2/3 of the students across the nation live.  The past three years have seen a definite downward trend in fire deaths from a high of 20 in 2006-2007 to 6 in 2008-2009; 5 in 2009-2010; and 6 in 2010-2011.

Common factors seen in a number of these fires include:

• Missing or disabled smoke alarms
• Lack of automatic fire sprinklers
• Careless disposal of smoking materials
• Impaired judgment from alcohol leading to ignition or inability to escape the fire
• Upholstered furniture on porches or decks contributing to the fire

More information on campus fire safety, including a listing of fatal fires since 2000 and an Information Sheet, can be found at www.campus-firewatch.com on the RESOURCE page.