The College will likely expand its ban on halogen lamps in first-year dorms to all upper-class Houses once it finishes distributing fluorescent lamps to all undergraduate rooms, officials said yesterday.

The new policy, which could take effect as early as next semester, was confirmed yesterday by Associate Dean of the College for Human Resources and the House System Thomas A. Dingman '67.

Dingman said concerns about fire hazards associated with halogen lamps prompted the College to propose broadening its ban on the lamps--a proposal which Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 said he supports.

"Halogen lamps are a fire hazard, and as the sad events at Seton Hall [University] demonstrate, dormitory fires are a real possibility so we want to do what we can to prevent them," Lewis wrote in an e-mail message yesterday.

The proposal rests on the delivery of about 6,500 new fluorescent floor lamps, which the College is in the process of delivering to student rooms in the Houses.

The lamps will be part of the standard package of furniture allocated to each undergraduate.

"They'll be just like pillows," said Robert L. Mortimer, associate director of building services for FAS. "When you arrive to your room, you'll see a bed, a bookcase, a dresser, and a lamp."

The lamps being purchased are similar in size and shape to standard halogen floor lamps, but rather than using a single 300-watt halogen bulb, the new lamps will use three 26-watt fluorescent bulbs.