Couch ban could ignite student protest at U-M

[hoosier]

Couch ban could ignite student protest at U-M

August 16, 2004

BY MARYANNE GEORGE
FREE PRESS ANN ARBOR (MI) BUREAU

Matt Grinshpun spends hours on the three couches on the porch of his big red house on Oakland Street in Ann Arbor. Grinshpun, a junior at the University of Michigan, and his 14 roommates at the Lester House co-op use them as a place to study, visit and even dine during the warm months.


"I live on this porch," said Grinshpun, 19, of Midland as he lounged last week on a dark green couch with floral cushions. "When fall starts, 15 people will eat dinner on the porch. Couches are rather central to the way things work around here."


But Ann Arbor fire officials say the couches are a fire hazard and want them removed from hundreds of front porches in student neighborhoods around campus, where they are often placed near a barbeque grill.


The couches have created a major debate in Ann Arbor as the City Council prepares to vote tonight on an ordinance to ban upholstered furniture of all kinds on outside porches and decks. Many students say the proposed ordinance infringes on their property rights and vow to mount a "save the sofa" campaign next month. The council has scheduled a Sept. 7 public hearing before taking a second vote, which is required to pass the ordinance.


Just a few doors down on Oakland, 12 people, including several U-M football players, narrowly escaped a fire in June. Investigators say the blaze was fueled by two love seats and a propane grill that ignited on the front porch.


Officials are still trying to determine the cause of the blaze, said Ann Arbor Fire Inspector Doug Warsinski. But the burning couches blocked the front door, forcing residents to jump from second- and third-floor windows. Four people, including a firefighter, suffered minor injuries.


"It was like watching a movie," said U-M football coach Lloyd Carr, who watched the house burn. "It was scary to see how fast the fire consumed that house. The fire marshal told me if they had gotten there a few minutes later it would have been a major tragedy."


Jake Long, an offensive tackle for the Wolverines, was awakened by a smoke alarm about 4 a.m. and found his room filled with smoke.


"I started to panic," Long, 19, a sophomore from Lapeer, recalled. "I put a shirt over my face and tried to open the door. But the smoke was so bad it pushed me back, so I jumped out the window."


But despite his terrifying experience, Long said he is undecided about whether the city should ban couches.


"It's tragic that the couches could fuel a fire, but it's private property and it's comfortable to go outside and sit on the couches," Long said. "I still don't know where I stand on this."


At least 10 other college towns, including East Lansing, Boulder, Colo., and Ames, Iowa, have banned upholstered furniture on porches, with fines ranging from $100 to $1,000. In East Lansing, home to Michigan State University, the maximum fine is $500.


If approved in Ann Arbor, the fine would be $100, but residents would first be given a warning to remove the couch, Warsinski said.


Ann Arbor fire officials say the risks posed by couches on porches are real.


Since 1996, 13 students, including five at Ohio State University in Columbus and three in Minneapolis, Minn., last year, have died in fires caused by couches on porches. In the last four years the Ann Arbor Fire Department has put out more than 74 outside furniture fires, including three on porches. In the last two months, they have extinguished about eight couch fires, according to department statistics. Most of the fires have been in student neighborhoods.


Couches, with foam cushions and a low flash point, burn quickly and emit toxic smoke, Warsinski said. When placed on a porch they have an unlimited supply of oxygen, which causes them to burn quickly. Because they are often placed near doors and windows they block exits in a fire. Porches are rarely equipped with smoke alarms or sprinklers. They are also a preferred place for smoking cigarettes, which can easily smolder in a couch undetected for hours, he said.


But students see this as an attempt to pretty-up campus neighborhoods by couching the issue as a fire hazard, said Jason Mironov, president of the Michigan Student Assembly, the U-M student government group.


"There's little doubt students will mobilize to save the couch," Mironov said. "A lot of students take it seriously, especially students who have lived in houses for several years. Even a porch can be flammable. This is an aesthetic reason wrapped up as a fire hazard."


Grinshpun said he'll help lead the charge to save couches.


"Regulating porch furniture is not a state function," he said. "If a law is passed it would be funny to see couches appearing at city hall. Ann Arbor has a long history of an activist student body on issues as remote as sweat shops in foreign countries. When it affects our front porch you can expect students to be pretty active."