The Office of Residential Life and Housing and the Division of Fire and Life Safety are cordially inviting the NSU community to view the documentary “After the Fire,” and listen to fire survivals Alvaro Llanos and Shawn Simmons on Wednesday, August 27, 7:00 – 9:00 pm in the Don Taft University Center PVA Performance Theater.
The documentary tells the story of the fire set by arsonists on January, 19, 2000 in a freshman dorm at Seton Hall University that killed three students and injured 58 others. The most critically burned survivors were freshmen roommates Shawn Simmons and Alvaro Llanos.
Laying in a coma, Shawn and Alvaro were unaware that a journalist and photographer were documenting every event in their fight for survival. The story proceeds from the devastating fire through the grueling medical treatment until their return to the same school where their ordeal had begun.
Pitted against the heroic efforts of firefighter, burn nurses and survivors, lies the story of the two arsonists. Running away after setting the deadly blaze, they conspire to obstruct the truth and hide away like cowards. As the determined investigators begin a dramatic and frustrating search for the arsonists, they uncover a vast conspiracy with ties to the local mafia. The Prosecutors end up cutting a deal with a former Lucchese mafia hitman, securing his early release from prison in return for his help in making a case against two students suspect in setting the fatal Seton Hall University fire.
“After the Fire” is the story of healing emotionally, physically and spiritually, and how communities come together in times of tragedy.
For more information, please contact NSU Fire and Life Safety Manager Edgar Ruiz at 954-262-8944 or redgar@nova.edu.