COLLEGE STATION, Texas—It’s a true story about two survivors.
Almost 20 years ago, a massive blaze tore through a freshman dorm at Seton Hall University.
For many that remember that event in January of 2000, it’s now just a memory.
But, for Alvaro Llanos, he relives it every day.
Llanos and roommate Shawn Simons were badly injured in the dorm inferno that killed three students and injured more than 50 others.
“Fire is not like how it looks on TV with its beautiful orange glow,” said Simons.
“There's just a lot of smoke, and you really can't see anything. We had no idea we were crawling right into it,” he added.
Llanos had burns over 56 percent of his body—all third degree burns from his waist up, and was in a coma for three months before starting the healing process.
Both went through many years of recovery, and now they share their powerful story with the world.
“We still remember every single detail of that night and the smells the feel everything that we were going through,” said Simons.
Llanos and Simons wrote a book about their experience, and years later, filmmakers took their story to the big screen in a documentary called After the Fire.
Now, the pair travels across the county speaking to students about overcoming adversity and the importance of safety.
“Our goal is to try to prevent these things from happening, and to show that if you are going through some bad things in your life that you can overcome them,” said Simons.
This week, the former roommates are speaking to students at Texas A&M University as part of the Campus Safety Awareness Series.
“Fire doesn’t discriminate, it can happen to anyone,” said Adam Chavarria, Assistant Manager Fire and Life Safety with the Texas A&M Environmental Health and Safety Department.
“We want students to be aware, not just about fire, but other types of emergencies and making good decisions--always be prepared,” he added.
Llanos and Simons hope that students will learn to make better decisions after hearing their story.
“We thought could never happen to us and we were 18 and we thought we were indestructible and we aren't,” said Llanos.
And, the former roommates said their message is more than just fire safety.
“In life we're all going to go through something tragic and sometimes we need the right support system or just the right message to inspire us to overcome what we're going through in our lives,” said Llanos.
The After the Fire program will begin with a screening of After the Fire: A True Story of Heroes and Cowards and will follow with a question and answer session with Llanos and Simons.