The smell of burned marshmallows was in the air Aug. 14; not from campfire s'mores, but a burned dorm room. It was all part of a controlled demonstration in the Appel Commons parking lot on Cornell's North Campus for resident assistants (RAs).

Cornell's Campus Life and Environmental Health and Safety departments and the Ithaca and Cayuga Heights fire departments teamed up to demonstrate how quickly a dorm room can catch fire, as part of a weeklong (Aug. 14-21) RA training for about 170 students. In the fire safety portion of the training, RAs had a chance to practice using a fire extinguisher to put out a blaze of kerosene and gasoline contained in a can, and to watch a mock dorm room burn up in the parking lot.

"Most people have never actually seen a room on fire," said Ithaca Deputy Fire Chief and Fire Marshall Tom Parsons. "Statistically, it's a once-in-a-lifetime situation, but that once-in-a-lifetime situation can be deadly."

The take-home message: If a room catches fire, RAs should get out and stay out, Parsons said. They should also close doors to contain the fire; get low if there is smoke; yell "fire"; pull the fire alarm; and tell others to run. RAs should not attempt rescues, he added.

The fire in the 7.5 x 4 x 8-feet mock dorm room -- complete with desk, laptop, two chairs, books and papers, a standing lamp with jeans draped over it, a working smoke detector, a trash can and even a discarded copy of the Cornell Chronicle -- was set by a firefighter with a flare in the trash can. It took a few minutes to get hot -- but once it spread, the entire room swirled with ravenous orange flames and black smoke. From 30 feet away, the heat was palpable.

"It struck me how fast the fire can take off when you don't expect it," said Blisse Wilkinson '11, an RA at Donlon Hall. "It made me value fire safety. You're in college, and you don't think that much about fires. It's a reality check."

Parsons said most fires are accidental, caused by cigarettes, candles, incense and electrical malfunctions. While all the Cornell resident halls now have sprinkler systems, students who move off campus should remember that many private residences are not equipped with such safety features.

Nationally since 2000, there have been 129 campus-related fire fatalities: 108 off campus, 10 in residence halls and 10 in fraternity or sorority housing. There were 20 campus-related fire fatalities in 2006-07; so far, there have been 18 in 2007-08, nationwide.

The mock room burn was supported by a donation from the Tompkins County Landlords Association.