This two-week proactive initiative will visit eight fraternities to drive home the importance of knowing how to respond when danger strikes.

The very first Fraternity Fire Academy kicked off this evening at the TRIO and Sigma Alpha Mu house; once the site of a dangerous fraternity fire.

"A young man set off a bottle rocket," explained Bob Campione, Manager of Housing and Facilities for Greek Life. "It went under a door into a closet, started a fire and destroyed the house, the interior practically completely."

Officials from Residential Education, Environmental Health and Safety, and the Morgantown Fire Department were back at the site Monday, not responding to danger, but taking an interactive approach to making sure the house isn't gutted again.

"We want to be known as one of the safest campuses around the country and certainly exercises like this will help us to obtain that goal," said Ron Justice, WVU Student Activities official.

The students began with a little friendly competition with fire safety trivia. Next, the students took part in a fire simulation, trying to get to safety though thick smoke in the dorm.

"You can't see hardly the hand in front of your face as you're walking through the hallway," admitted freshman resident Laura Adkins.

Last the students learned how to properly use a fire extinguisher.

Officials say addressing fire concerns at the beginning of a semester is important, but nothing quite matches the effectiveness of hands-on training.

"The more active they are, the more senses they get involved, the more they'll remember it in the long run," explained Roger Wright, Senior Program Administrator for WVU Environmental Health & Safety. "They'll have a lot more fun doing it as well." Students say the interactive approach really made an impression.

"I will definitely look for the sprinkler system - that's what they said was the most important," recalled Adkins. "And now that I know how to use a fire extinguisher, I think I'll be set."

The program will wrap up next Thursday with a live burn, where students can see in real-time what happens when a fire breaks out in a dorm room.

"We're going to actually burn a simulation dorm room, where we'll actually set fire to it to see how fast it will become engulfed and then we'll extinguish it using the sprinkler system," explained Campione. "It's a very exciting thing for them to see."