Dim lighting in the residence halls has prompted many Iowa State students to purchase popular halogen lamps, but officials say that can be dangerous.

Several college campuses now prohibit the tall lamps with bowl-shaped heads in their dorm rooms. ISU does not — not yet anyway.

“We’ve always known that halogen lamps are a danger,” said Ames Fire Inspector John Dethrow.

Dethrow said halogen lamps can easily start a fire when they are placed next to combustible objects. He said the fire code requires halogen lamps to be placed 24 inches away from any flammable materials. But that’s tough to do in tight dorm quarters.

Dethrow said halogen lamps need to be kept away from radiators, boilers, blankets, sheets and any electrical objects.

“The obvious thing is to keep them away from all combustible objects,” Dethrow said.

Halogen lamps are more dangerous than other lamps because they have an unenclosed light bulb. The bulb burns much hotter than incandescent bulbs. Dethrow said both direct contact with the actual light bulb and the radiated heat can easily cause a fire.

That’s something Andrea Vitzthum, a sophomore in journalism, knows all too well.

Vitzthum said her halogen lamp is placed beside her roommate’s loft bed. She said one evening her roommate’s blanket fell directly on top of the lamp.

“We just saw smoke everywhere,” she said.

Vitzthum said this was her second halogen lamp-started fire.

A few weeks before the second fire, her roommate’s sheets also fell on top of the lamp. The light bulb burnt a large hole in the sheets.

“We don’t use our [halogen lamp] anymore,” she said. “I still think they are pretty popular in the dorms though.”

Pat Robinson, Friley Hall’s residence life department coordinator, said she’s not aware of any push to keep the lamps out of ISU’s dorm rooms.

“To my knowledge, we still allow them in the halls,” Robinson said.

Several calls to Randy Alexander, director of ISU’s Department of Residence, went unreturned.

Dethrow said there have been several “dangerous situations” with halogen lamps on campus. “I’ve never seen anything written about the banning of halogen lamps on this campus,” he said.