Apartment Building, Other - School / University, Residential State College, PA – Late night fire at off-campus student apartments halted by sprinkler system May 7, 2015 viking210 Some local college students narrowly avoided a disaster when their apartment building almost went up in flames. A blaze broke out just after 11:30 Wednesday night in building Q at the Lion’s crossing apartments on Viaro Boulevard in State College. Officials tell us a resident was heating oil on the stove when it caught fire and he then tried to extinguish it by throwing water on it. Crews are crediting the sprinkler system for activating and stopping the fire from spreading. Shawn Kauffman, Assistant Alpha Fire Company Chief said, “In these types of residential buildings, the apartments are occupied by students and if there hadn’t been sprinklers it would have devastated their finals week.” All residents were evacuated while the crews were on scene and they were allowed to return about 40 minutes after the fire broke out.
