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Maybe there's some hope left for my generation after all..

sstalder5

Turbo Monkey
Aug 20, 2008
1,942
20
Beech Mtn Definitely NOT Boulder
This happened at a school a few of my high school friends go to.

http://www.hsctiger.com/2012/02/students-rush-into-a-blazing-building-to-save-teammate/

A fire tore through the Tiger Athletic Club (TAC) house located close to campus at 4:15am on Wednesday, Jan 25, 2011. Benjamin T. Rogers ’12 suffered some minor burns and Kirk Rohle ’12 continues to be treated for second and third-degree burns after being airlifted to the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) in Richmond.

The 911 call was received at 4:12am, at which point Campus Security Officer Noel Malave arrived at the in a matter of three minutes. According to Chief Gee, Director of Campus Security and Police, “the officer responded by vehicle, and upon his arrival, the structure was fully involved with fire.” Immediately, unit R-12 called for a helicopter while an ambulance arrived on the scene by 04:25am.

The TAC house, also known as the Benedict house, housed nine Hampden-Sydney students and was formally a private residence acquired by the school like most other homes close to campus. Mr. Thomas Shomo, Director of Marketing and Communications, reported, “the house was up to code with fire safety measures: there were smoke detectors in every bedroom, and all furniture was fire resistant, like all dorms on campus.”

Preliminary evidence suggested that, the one place where there wasn’t a smoke detector, the porch, is where the fire is suspected to have started. Shomo comments that ongoing investigations have pointed to “a cigarette butt smoldering on the sofa located on the porch” to be the source of the incident which took place when eight of the nine residents were asleep.

According to Shomo, the students attempted to put out the cigarette butt, which slipped into the sofa around 1:00am, and proceeded to bed.

Matt Maloney, one of the residents of the TAC and a senior from Atlanta, GA described the incident as it unfolded to reporters from the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “I could see the fire, [so] I ran upstairs shouting — trying to get everyone up.”

As soon as the students rushed outside, it didn’t take them long to realize their 6’1’’, 265 lbs housemate, Rogers, a senior, All-American offensive lineman on the H-SC football team was not with them. “We knew right away that Ben wasn’t there,” confirmed Maloney.

The brave students, including running back Kirk Rohle, defensive lineman Josh Phipps, and quarterback Travis Lane returned to the house to get their friend. Rogers, Phipps, and Lane managed to exit the burning building again; however, Rohle, who had also reentered the burning house to save his friend, was nowhere to be found.

Maloney said he then heard his friend’s voice: “Kirk was just outside a first-floor window, yelling, ‘Help me!’ ”

“It is believed [Rohle] exited the building though a ground floor window,” speculates Chief Gee. As soon as the EMT team arrived, he was air Medevaced to Richmond where he is currently receiving treatment. Sources say that Rohle had to be placed in medically induced coma for better treatment options.

“Kirk has gone through several hardships on campus—none worse than this; however, I know he will return with a smile on his face. He would be the one to run back into a burning building in concern for another studet’s life,” said C.W Hammond, a fellow Biology student and classmate of Kirk.

Krik’s father Ken Rohle commented to reporters that, “His worst burns are on his toes and fingers. We think he was trying to stay low, under the smoke, sort of crab-walking, and burned himself touching the floor.” He also added that his son is most likely to be in the hospital for as long as three months. Families of both students, who are from Mechanicsville, VA, expressed gratitude for the amount of support they have been receiving from coaches, teammates, students, administrators, and President Howard, who just recently promised to cover all textbook expenses for all the residents of the TAC house. The students were moved to the former Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house. Rev. Keck, Pastor of College Presbyterian Church, has also been leading a relief effort to raise funds and collect basic necessities for these students who have lost absolutely everything.

The fire took 90 minutes to contain and has been reported a “total loss” by Hampden-Sydney Fire Safety Supervisor, Chuck Ironmonger. Incidentally, the event comes in the aftermath of a series of unpopular fire-safety policies that have been introduced by the Fire Safety Department in the 2011/2012 school year, which have prompted a strong student opposition. When asked whether or not the school will be seeing tighter fire regulations in the coming months, Ironmonger commented, “The administration will review the event, of course, to see if there is anything we can do better, but there is no way I can give you an accurate answer at this time, and I will not speculate.”

Though the College has experienced periodic fire incidents in its history, including the fire that burnt the front portion of the former library at Winston Hall in 1941 and the Mcilwaine Hall fire of 1957, this was the first time in 235 years that an occupied residence hall was fully on fire.
 

SloMoJo

Monkey
Dec 17, 2002
379
1
New England
Tough story for Kirk.

Yes my man ..we are counting on your generation to get inspired and do something awesome.
This does part not qualify tho.

"According to Shomo, the students attempted to put out the cigarette butt, which slipped into the sofa around 1:00am, and proceeded to bed."
 

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
41,063
10,016
as long as your generation keeps listening to screamo....