In light of recent state fire safety legislation, the issue of fire prevention measures in fraternity houses is once again a concern.

Currently, the issue is being discussed in the state House of Representatives, which is proposing the installation of sprinkler systems in all college and university residences in Pennsylvania.

At this point, fraternities are not included in the proposed bill, however, Rep. Lynn Herman (R-Centre) points out the bill may be amended to include fraternity housing.

This bill will allow colleges and universities five to 10 years to complete renovations to install sprinkler systems. If fraternities were included in the bill, the time allotment for installation remains unclear.

"That has yet to be determined," Herman said. "We're more than willing to listen to any other kinds of amendments."

Even without the bill, there has been a trend in many of the Penn State fraternities to upgrade fire protection.

"There are about 10 to 15 (fraternity houses) that have (sprinklers) now," IFC President David Britz said. "We're encouraging chapters to get sprinklers."

Triangle fraternity, 226 E. Beaver Ave., has just completed a $240,000 renovation and upgrade of its fire protection system that began at the end of spring semester.

"Contractors were here from the last day of finals until the day we moved in," said Scott Walthour (senior-architectural engineering), Triangle renovations chair and fraternity member. Walthour also noted that contractors are still present at the house completing final renovations.

Throughout the entire renovation process for Triangle fraternity, the house has been repeatedly inspected and kept up to code.

Some of the improvements that Triangle fraternity has made include sprinklers throughout the entire house, smoke detectors, heat sensors, emergency strobe lights and exit signs. The house also contains a monitored fire alarm that notifies the fire company three minutes after the alarms in the house are activated.

The renovations to Triangle fraternity were not only brought about by the recent attention to life-safety violations within the greek fraternity system, but by a general need to upgrade the building.

"The house was 30 years old and has a lot of electrical problems," Walthour said, "that and we just wanted to upgrade."

Because of the age of many of the houses, renovations such as installing sprinkler systems can be very expensive.

"What we're working on right now is to find a way to financially put (sprinklers) in less expensively," Britz said. "Hopefully we can work with local governments, state governments and get low interest loans."

Through the Fraternity Purchasing Association, the fraternities are able to purchase many necessary materials that are up to code, Britz said. These include items that can be used to cover windows in place of newspaper and garbage bags, which are life-safety violations.