The fire which charred a South Campus apartment Tuesday night appears to have been caused by burning candles left in a bedroom, said Tony Callisto, interim chief of Public Safety.

According to the Syracuse Fire Department, however, while candles seem to be the likely cause of the fire that blazed in Building 320, Apartment No. 5 while it was unoccupied, the official cause has not yet been determined.

Lt. Karl Field, who fought the fire, said when he entered the apartment three candles were still burning downstairs, but the department has not found enough conclusive evidence to declare an official cause.

Though Callisto said it was believed the apartment’s fire alarms did go off, Field said when he arrived on the scene none of the building’s fire alarms were going off.

‘The smoke should have caused all of the building’s alarms to go off,’ Field said. ‘I don’t know why all of the other apartments’ alarms weren’t tied into the ones in the apartment where the fire occurred.’

Field also said when he arrived there were no fire sprinklers going off in the apartment, and he did not see any installed.

When asked about the fire alarms and sprinklers, Kevin Morrow, director of SU news services, said he did not yet have enough information about the fire to comment.

As for a group of 10 students who were pulled aside for questioning, Callisto said that whenever an incident occurs, the law enforcement officials speak to any one who may have witnessed it to find out as much information as possible.

The fire started behind the door of the front bedroom of the apartment, near a portable stereo unit, which melted from the heat of the fire, Field said. The fire itself did not spread outside of the bedroom, but extremely heavy black smoke and soot residue filled the second floor and the stairwell.

The fire was not a structure fire; rather it was a contents fire, which means that it was the items inside the apartment that were burnt, Fields said

Because of the many plastic items that caught on fire in the apartment, the blaze was considered a high carbon fire, which made the soot and smoke thick, Field said.

‘I’ve never seen (smoke and soot) that black before,’ Field said. ‘It was pitch black, like walking through a cave. You couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face.’

The entire second floor suffered smoke damage and many of the apartment’s residents’ belongings were destroyed, Fields said. The bottom floor of the apartment suffered water damage from the 175 gallons of water they used to fight the fire.

Fields said the apartment itself would be livable once it is scrubbed down and all of the carpeting and furniture is removed.

Callisto warned against the danger of having candles in a dorm room, apartment or house. Candles are strictly prohibited in SU housing policy, which covers the South Campus apartments.

‘This issue speaks loudly that the rules around not having open flames and candles are there for a reason,’ Callisto said. ‘Thankfully no one was hurt, but someone could have been.’

Field agreed, urging that leaving lit candles in an unoccupied apartment is simply asking for a tragedy.

‘That is simply not acceptable,’ he said, citing one of the apartment’s residents who told him she had forgotten to blow them out. ‘Candles … are one of our biggest pet peeves,’ he said.

Callisto also commended the girls in the apartment next door who made the emergency call.

‘That was the right call to make,’ he said, urging any one who smells or sees smoke to call Public Safety.

Published on August 30, 2006 at 12:00 pm