Three months after Penn State student Christopher Raspanti, 21, died in an off-campus house fire, toxicology results have determined that his blood alcohol content (BAC) was three times the legal limit.

Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers said Raspanti's BAC was .27 percent at the time of his death, but he added that he is unsure if the BAC impeded Raspanti from waking up and escaping from the burning house.

"I can't say ... everyone has been asking me that but I just don't know," Sayers said.

The legal driving limit is .08 percent.

Raspanti, who was from Fairless Hills, PA, was found dead on the third-floor room of his house at 500 E. Beaver Ave. after it caught on fire early on April 24. A total of 13 people, including Raspanti's four roommates, escaped from the burning house without serious injuries.

Kimi Raspanti said alcohol is not to blame for her son's death because he was in his own house celebrating the end of the semester with his friends and not driving.

"I bet if you had a BAC for the rest of the kids [in the house] it would be similar to my son's," Kimi Raspanti said.

Kate McCormick, Raspanti's friend who was at his house during the time of the early morning fire, said everyone at the house drank the same amount as Raspanti.

"You know how college kids are ... it was the last week of school and everyone was drinking," McCormick said.

All other toxicology results for Raspanti, including illegal substances, came back negative, Sayers said.

He added that Raspanti's toxicology results showed that 80 percent of his blood consisted of carboxyhemoglobin, or hemoglobin that has carbon monoxide instead of normal oxygen bound to it, which is conclusive with carbon monoxide poisoning.

Kimi Raspanti said the only way out for Raspanti was either his bedroom door, which was blocked by the fire, or a window with a three-story drop.

"What he really needed was a fire escape," she said.

Even if alcohol had prevented her son from getting up, a fire escape may have allowed someone to rescue him, Kimi Raspanti said.

McCormick added that Raspanti's room was the farthest to reach from where everyone else was sleeping. The fire broke out about an hour

after everyone had gone to sleep, she said.

After the fire investigation, four smoke detectors were found in the basement, first and second floors of the house, but three of them were either disabled or had batteries that were removed or disconnected. No smoke detectors were found in the third floor where Raspanti was sleeping when the fire broke out.

Though Kimi Raspanti said that her family has not spoken about making off campus properties safer to either the borough or the landlord responsible for her son's residence, Kimi Raspanti said she hopes that the fire codes are revised.

The Centre Region Code Administration recently proposed a new six-point plan to reduce fire-related injuries and fatalities in all new and existing off-campus properties. The plan would include installing sprinkler systems and interconnected smoke detectors in each individual unit. The administration and council will be discussing the plan further June 11.