A student's clothes were set on fire while he was in the shower in Shunk Hall on Monday morning.

The incident is the third fire in the past two weeks in residence halls, which is a trend that Penn State University Police find unusual even for a time of year when destructive behavior is common.

Tyrone Parham, university police assistant director, said the individual was in the shower at 6:30 a.m. when he saw his T-shirt, shorts and briefs in flames outside the stall.

The student said he did not see who set the fire and had no idea who would have done it, Parham said.

Parham said it is unclear how the fire was extinguished. The incident was classified as both arson and criminal mischief.

He said destructive behavior is commonly seen around the end of the semester. Last year, a television was thrown from a parking garage, and several desks were thrown out of buildings.

Patrols have been stepped up because the incidents. Though university police normally patrol outside of residence halls, they are now also patrolling inside the buildings to prevent crimes and to help people feel safe, Parham said.

"These fires are high priority for us and high impact for our investigative attention and our patrol presence," he added.

Parham said it is not believed the Shunk fire is related to the other two fires that have occurred in the past two weeks.

On April 2, an unknown suspect or suspects set a stack of newspapers on fire in a Pinchot Hall elevator. The elevator traveled through the building, stopping at each floor. The papers scorched a 3-foot-by-3-foot area in the elevator.

The Pinchot fire was categorized as arson.

A stack of newspapers was set on fire Sunday outside of Brumbaugh Hall around 2 a.m.

Parham said the officer who responded to that fire extinguished it with his foot. The incident was classified as criminal mischief because it did not endanger property or people.

He said officers are continuing to investigate the Brumbaugh incident by checking card access records to see who was entering the building around the time of the fire.

Parham said the Shunk incident is being investigated by concentrating on residents of Shunk Hall, which is in Pollock.

"At that time in the morning, it is hard to piggyback in, so we are starting with the residents of that hall," Parham said.