Extinguishers Fail to Operate In Pennypacker Mattress Fire

Three fire extinguishers failed to work yesterday after noon when students tried to put out a mattress fire in Pennypacker Hall, one of the freshmen union dormitories.

The fire started about 1:30 p.m. when a reading lamp overturned so that the bulb was touching the mattress of the top bunk of a bunk bed, Allison Baird '82 said yesterday.

Baird said she and her roommmate Hilary Nelson '82 were sitting on the bottom bunk, but didn't notice the mattress smouldering above them until another roommate came in and smelled smoke.

Nelson, who cannot walk easily because of a sprained back, called the University Police, and with the help of friends, dragged the mattress outside in front of the building.

The mattress continued to smoulder inside despite several attempts to douse the fire with water, and the fire extinguishers on the first and second floors refused to work for the students. "Then I ran up to the third floor and found the nozzle of the fire extinguisher there covered with masking tape," Baird said.

The Cambridge Fire Department, summoned by the University Police, arrived, cut open the mattress and extinguished the fire.

Lt. Stanley Kotowski of the fire department said the mattress could have suddenly burst into flames at any moment, and added the smoke from the mattress could have been very dangerous.

Bye, Bye

"The main thing is to send in an alarm and get out of the building quickly," Kotowski said. "That building should have been evacuated, because it doesn't take much to get a fire really going."

Fire extinguishers on the University grounds are checked annually, Mclvin Holway, chairman of the University Fire Inspection Groups, said yesterday. "The problem is that the kids will have a lot of fun emptying the extinguishers and we never know about it. What can we do?" he added.