A Penn State student died early yesterday morning after what local police and fire officials are calling State College's first fatal fire in recent memory.

Christopher Raspanti, 21, was found dead in his bedroom after flames ripped through the third story of his house at 500 E. Beaver Ave. Four other occupants of the house escaped without injuries.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but State College Police Chief Tom King said yesterday that it appeared to be accidental.

Sanitation workers and a taxi driver discovered the flames at 6:42 a.m., calling 911 before entering the building to help get people out, according to a State College Police Department press release.

Heavy flames and smoke blocked access to the building's third story, according to yesterday's release.

Two occupants left through the front door, and two others jumped from a second-story rooftop. The university is providing temporary housing for those individuals.

Two firefighters were treated and released at Mount Nittany Medical Center for minor injuries. One suffered a knee injury, and the other had minor burns to the head and neck area.

Alpha Fire Chief Stan Clouser said at the scene that the department was dispatched to the address at 6:44 a.m. to find heavy smoke and flames coming from the structure's third story.

The department was assisted by companies from Boalsburg, Pleasant Gap and Bellefonte, using two ladder trucks to quickly put out most of the flames. Raspanti's body was found and removed as firefighters spent the next several hours putting out hot spots.

The results of an autopsy will not be available for four to six weeks, according to the police department release.

Beaver Avenue was closed between Garner and High streets during the call and one lane reopened during the afternoon. Most of the damage was contained to the third story of the building, with some damage to the second story, Clouser said.

King said the building did not have sprinklers, and a code inspector is investigating whether smoke detectors or other alarms were working.

Clouser said the blaze was fairly typical for a house fire, but the death was something that he thankfully rarely sees.

"I can't remember the last time there was a fatality," he said.

State College Police Cpl. Tom Dann also could not remember a fatal incident of this nature.

"I've been here 17 years and this is the first time I know of something like this happening [in the borough]," he said.

Lauren Murrow, who lives next door at 508 Beaver Ave., said she woke up to pounding noises and saw the flames from her window.

The fire was just jumping out of the window of the next house," she said. "There was fire coming out like movie-style. It was insane."

Residents from her house also evacuated because it was only a few feet from the burning building.

Other residents woke up to the smell of smoke, which reached as far as University Drive.

Rick Schuhmann, who lives on the 500 block of Foster Avenue -- downwind of the blaze -- said he woke up to the smell of "burning newspaper."

"It was dense smoke all over," he said, pointing to an open area near the fire. "It was like fog rolling through here."

Dann said a Centre Region Transportation Authority bus was brought in to house residents who fled the building.

They were then transported to department headquarters for questioning before the university put them in temporary housing.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said the students have been placed in Graduate Circle Apartments, where they can stay until the end of finals.

"It's the end of the semester in a week," he said. "We do what we can to help."

Mahon added that the Red Cross is involved with the university to replace books and other belongings lost in the blaze.

"It's a real community effort," he said.

Collegian Staff Writer Drew Curley contributed to this report.