About 400 students emptied out of Watson Residence Hall last night at about 10:30 p.m. after a member of HillTV discharged a fire extinguisher in their facilities, creating the appearance of a fire and a ‘minor panic,’ said District Chief John Schafer of the Syracuse Fire Department.

Fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, and Public Safety vehicles crowded the corner of Waverly and Comstock avenues as over 30 firefighters responded to investigate the alarm.

Joseph Iuliano, general manager of HillTV, said that no fire had occurred. One student, however, was taken to the hospital because of the fumes and later released, according to a HillTV Listserv.

Iuliano said some members of the campus news station reported feeling nauseous.

The spread of the cloud was confined by closed doors, but exposed equipment still risked damage, Iuliano said, adding that University Housing would arrive shortly to begin a clean-up effort to be finished by a professional crew with the assistance of HillTV staff.

Iuliano declined to release the student’s name or discuss what action may be taken against him by HillTV or the university.

The sanction for the improper activation of a fire extinguisher is expulsion or indefinite suspension for a minimum of one academic year, according to the Code of Student Conduct.

‘We’re here to help people, but when they misuse the fire safety systems in their building, they needlessly endanger the lives of the people around them and the firefighters responding,’ Schafer said.

Schafer described the use of the extinguisher as ‘malicious,’ adding that the university would conduct an investigation.

‘(The student who discharged the extinguisher) has been a witness to this kind of thing in the past, and he endangered the lives of my firefighters,’ Schafer said. ‘I’m angry.’

HillTV broke away from the University Union system this fall, creating a new student media organization offering television programming from sports and news broadcasts to entertainment shows. Funded by the Student Association, it recently acquired new equipment and a set from Blythe Design, a prestigious firm that furnishes major television networks such as Fox News and NBC.

Published on March 23, 2004 at 12:00 pm