In March, an arson fire ripped through the Sigma Phi Delta house just off the SDSU campus. All the fraternity brothers escaped without injury and this fall they moved back into a renovated building, but the memory of the fire goes beyond the burn mark on the floor.

"It's just something I guess that everybody has in the back of their heads so people are always, you know, watching out for different things," says Mark Kobylinski of Sigma Phi Delta.

Despite the lessons learned and the improvements made since the fire, it's just the latest example of increased awareness after the fact in Brookings.

Fire also devastated an off campus duplex in February, 2004. One student suffered burns, five others were left homeless.

"The students were essentially trapped on the second floor and had to jump out a second floor window," says deputy chief Pete Bolzer of the Brookings fire deparment. "Basically the fire ended up consuming the property."

Bolzer says the rental properties are slowly improving but says the trend won't change until students take prevention seriously.

"It's a two-way street," Bolzer says. "The people living in the houses also have to have some responsibility for their own safety."

In addition to being a fire inspector, Bolzer teaches fire prevention courses to SDSU residential housing advisors. He says it's his goal to educate as many as he can and on this day, he decides to put two to the test.

"I'm going to ask you a couple very simple fire safety questions. The smoke detector goes off at 2 a.m., you get up out of bed, what would you do before you open the door?" Bolzer asks SDSU sophomores Karen Blake and Laura White.

"Feel to make sure the door wasn't warm," Blake answers.

"How often should you check the batteries in your smoke detector?" Bolzer asks.

"Once a month," White said.

"Absolutely correct again," Bolzer said.

Although the duo don't find the questions too difficult, Bolzer says the little experiment gives him hope.

"I'm extremely impressed. The fact is is I'm extremely proud of them. A lot of those questions, once you reach past the age of 13 you don't remember the answers," Bolzer says.

A recent survey of college students found that many lack basic fire prevention knowledge. Roughly 60 percent of students living off campus indicated that they haven't tested their smoke detectors.

By Kent Erdahl