Alavaro and Shawn, survivors of the tragic Boland Hall fire located at Seton Hall, spoke during a presentation at Manville High School. At around 9am on 04/08/2025, administrators called down the senior class of Manville High School to the auditorium. They gathered in their seats and Manville students were introduced to some members of the Manville Fire Department. Afterwards, Alavaro and Shawn introduced themselves. They gave a bit of a background of why they were visiting Manville High School and what they were going to speak about. Fire safety is what they stressed the most, and why it is so important. Especially for students dorming in college next year, it was important to be responsible. A major tip they gave was “always count doors when you’re staying in a hotel. Walk the furthest down you can from your left and the furthest you can to the right, and count the number of doors until the exit.” The explanation Shawn gave for this was, when Alavaro and Shawn were in the fire the smoke was so thick they could not even seen 10 inches in front of their face. This includes their own hands. However, if they knew the number of doors the exit was away from their dorms they could have used their hands to count the doors to the exit.
After this, Alavaro and Shawn showed a documentary called “After the Fire.” This was a 53-minute long documentary detailing the direct after-effects of the burns Alavaro and Shawn unfortunately endured. The doctors, nurses, and, of course, their families were all affected deeply by the state of the boys, leaving them distraught yet hopeful. Shawn and Alvaro were both left in comas; however, Shawn woke up first. His injuries were less extensive than Alavaro’s, leaving him more hope. He woke up after 3 weeks of being in comatose. A smaller percentage of Shawn’s body had been covered in third degree burns. However, Alavaro had third degree burns on 60% of his body, leaving him clasping to life. He was stuck in comatose for 3 months, and, when he finally woke up, he was extremely disoriented and scared. He soon learned of his warped physical appearance and grew insecure about it. It was a hard journey for both Shawn and Alavaro’s recovery in many different ways; however, they both made it through hand-in-hand.
The documentary also covered the ignorance of the two college Frat boys who were responsible for this lethal fire. What started out as a prank turned into three fatalities and over 50 injuries. Although nothing is set in stone, it is alleged that the two boys, Sean and Joseph, were told by the Frat house they wanted to join to pull the fire alarm as initiation. Drunkenly, they thought setting the wallpaper of the school on fire would be a cooler feat, and simultaneously set off the fire alarm. Unfortunately for everyone, the flames spread like wildfire, leaving Boland Hall changed forever.
In memory of the fallen, they hold a ceremony every year on January 19th to pay respects to the fallen and severely injured of Boland Hall.
