Dana Christmas Story

On January 19, 2000, a fire occurred at Seton Hall University that killed three 
freshmen.  Dan Christmas was a resident assistant in the building where the fire 
broke out.  This is her story….

To my surprise, there wasn’t a hallway full of children, my students on my floor, 
there was smoke and fire.  I immediately shut the door and I began to panic.  I 
thought to myself, “Oh my God, this is the real thing.  What am I gonna do?”  My 
heart is racing.  Tears are running down my eyes, out of my eyes and I think to 
myself, “How are we going to get out?”

Immediately I turn back around and I face the door and I turn the knob.  I enter 
the hallway.  Suddenly I begin knocking, knocking on doors.  I yelled and 
screamed, “Fire, Fire!  It’s a fire!  Everyone wake-up.  Please!  This is real!”

The back of my head, my scalp, was burning.  And as I continue, I pat the back 
of my scalp trying to extinguish the flame.  Then I notice that my hands are on 
fire.  And from then I notice that no one is waking up.  No one is hearing my 
voice.  So what is left for me to do?  Then I turn around in the corner and I place 
my key into the knob and I turn and …..

I’m screaming now, I’m beginning to give up.  But for some reason I open my 
window and begin yelling and screaming, “Fire!  Fire!  It’s a fire!  Everyone 
please wake up.  This is not a hoax.  This is not a prank.  Please wake up 
everyone.  Please!”

No one is responding.  No one is responding to my call.  Everyone is still resting.  
And I am holding myself at this point because I am in so much pain, excruciating.  
And even so, I turn and walk back out into the hallway.  And I being knocking and 
screaming, “Fire!  Fire!  It’s a fire!”  Suddenly I begin to hear voices, “Oh my 
God.”

And a few of the residents begin to open their doors and they are seeing that this 
time it is real.  But this wasn’t enough.  I enter my room once again and I begin to 
yell and scream hoping that this time they will hear me, they will hear my call.  To 
my surprise it is working and I see people turning on their lights in their rooms 
and they are opening their windows and they begin to yell and scream.

And I tried once again, my last attempt to walk up and down the hallway.  I 
collapse.  I fall, in front of my doorstep.  And I drop my keys.  And at this time I 
am thinking to myself, “I’m gonna die.”  I am only 21 years old and I am thinking 
that I am never going to see my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother anymore.  
And I hear, I start to pray because I think I have done everything that I can do at 
this particular time and I figure prayer will be my last hope.  And after I have said 
my prayer, I place my head down.  
And suddenly I hear voices down the hallway.  By this time I am relieved 
because I am thinking to myself I have the opportunity, this is my opportunity to 
leave the building.  And believe me I never thought that I would be in a situation 
like this.  After informing the residents that your life is valuable and you should 
never take the sound of a fire alarm lightly.  When you hear that sound you get 
up and you leave and you try to evacuate the building.

But I tell you, it was much more than what I had imagined.  Everything that was 
familiar to me was no more.  Everything was dark, gloomy; one of the perks of 
being RA was having your own room, your own solitude.  And I used to enjoy 
being by myself at times.  But just then, I never felt so alone.

Things you should know about fire…

There are over 1500 fire in residence halls and Greek housing.  Arson is the 
leading cause.

A building equipped with an automatic sprinkler system offers one of the highest 
levels of fire safety.  A single sprinkler head can put out a fire that might 
otherwise kill.

Take ALL fire alarms seriously.  Always evacuate the building whenever a fire 
alarm sounds.

No one should ever tamper with smoke alarms.  Removing the battery or 
covering the smoke alarm will stop it from working and alerting everyone to a fire.

Know your school’s policies on candles, smoking, and cooking and halogen 
lamps.

These are the leading causes of residence hall fires.

You are part of the first line of defense against fires.

Make sure everyone knows what they can do to help protect themselves, their 
roommates and friends from fires.  

Contact your campus fire safety officer or local fire department for more 
information on how you can save a life…maybe yours.

Thank you to Dana Christmas for sharing her story.