Fire threatens Campus Center
By Meghan Williams
Flat Hat News Editor
A fire in a maintenance team's office in the basement of Trinkle Hall resulted in smoke damage and caused the Campus Center to be shut down for most of the morning yesterday. The fire was mainly contained in that area, but also spread to the Print Shop at the back of the Campus Center.
According to Robert Johnson, fire safety officer with Facilities Management, the exact cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Williamsburg Fire Department, but speculation is that the fire was electrical in nature and was a result of faulty wiring.
"There was so much smoke damage that it's more presumption than exact determination," Johnson said.
The fire started around 7 a.m. yesterday, and Vice President for Student Affairs Sam Sadler said he was at the scene by about 7:15.
"When I got there Š there were no flames, but there was smoke pouring out of the area," he said.
According to Sadler, the fire department quickly contained the area and within an hour had nearly finished their jobs and were preparing to leave.
"The Health Department had to come through and verify that everything was okay," Johnson said.
This is standard procedure, according to Johnson, and the Health Department being called in was a precaution.
"In this case we almost had a 100 percent feeling that everything was okay [before the Health Department walk-through]," Johnson said.
The walk-through happened about 11 a.m., according to Phil DeBenedetto, director of Dining Services.
Because of the smoke damage, DeBenedetto said, Marketplace staff replaced fruit, silverware and napkins that had been out at the time of the fire so that the possibility of contamination was eliminated.
DeBenedetto commended the staff of the Marketplace for returning to work so quickly and smoothing out the delays caused by the fire.
The Marketplace remained open an hour later for lunch to make it easier for those students who had not been able to get lunch earlier because of the delay, he said. He did not think the number of students eating at the Marketplace had been much affected by the fire.
Johnson discussed the clean-up processes that occurred yesterday, and which may continue today, in the Campus Center.
All the doors and windows of the building remained open, from the time authorities first arrived and into the night.
Fans were brought in and placed so as to provide as much air circulation as possible.
Johnson said the plan was to use "positive pressure ventilation," which involves forcing air into the building, which increases the pressure in the building and pushes smoke out.
Johnson expected most of the doors and windows to be opened again today, but said that the decision would likely be made on a room-by-room basis.
Sadler added that a crew specializing in fire-damage cleanup would be working today, and that an effort would be made to neutralize the smoke smell.
"We really don't know yet how much of that smoke smell we're going to be able to get out," he said.
|