Residence Hall Blaze Causes
Concern on University Campus

By Julie Collins
CyberNews Staff Reporter

Feb. 8, 2002

The Kirk side of the Goodwin-Kirk residence hall on the Drake University campus was the site of both fire and flood the past week, leaving residents scorched, soaked and thoroughly frustrated.

Fire alarms were activated in the residence hall at approximately 11:45 p.m. Tuesday when a fire broke out in a garbage can on the first floor of the Kirk side. Around the same time Thursday, water began flooding from a bathroom on the second floor of the building and continued to soak both the first and second floors well into the night.

A false fire alarm Tuesday morning and the small fire that occurred on Tuesday evening were the first instances of fire alarms being set off in the Goodwin-Kirk residence hall during the 2001-2002 academic year.

Last year, numerous false fire alarms occurred, and on one occasion an alarm was set off by a garbage can fire.

On Tuesday evening, the residents were forced to evacuate when the fire alarms began sounding. Many had no choice but to throw on whatever clothing was available, whether coats, robes or slippers, as they evacuated.

No one was allowed back in the building for nearly 20 minutes. The temperature was estimated to be below 5 degrees. Many students walked across the street to Walgreens to get out of the cold.

"I was in my bathrobe getting ready to get in the shower and the alarm went off," Andrea Schmidt (J1) said. "I wasn't sure it was the real thing, so I waited a minute then threw on some sweats and went outside." Nikki Guillot (AS1) said she was upset because the students were forced to stay outside after the danger of the fire had passed.

Dave Butler (J4) is the resident assistant on the floor where the fire occurred. Butler said he nearly slept through the entire incident because he did not hear the alarm. According to him, smoke was billowing out of a garbage can located in the hallway. Some of the residents smelled smoke and came out of their rooms to investigate. When they saw the fire, they attempted to put it out with water from their rooms.

"There were full-fledged flames spouting out, so it was bad news," Butler said.

Although the water put the fire out for the most part, a fire truck arrived on the scene shortly after the building was evacuated. A minimal amount of smoke was witnessed coming from the building. One firefighter entered the residence hall armed with a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze.

Goodwin-Kirk complex director Rob Lion said that at the time the fire was extinguished, it could not be determined what caused it. There were no witnesses on the scene until after the blaze was ignited. Lion said further investigation revealed the fire was started by a cigarette or a match.

Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the residence halls.

According to the Drake Student Handbook, Drake University does not carry insurance to cover personal property that may be destroyed by a fire. Fortunately, nothing was damaged in the small blaze.

The flooding on the Kirk side Thursday left more damage than the fire. According to Summer Zwanziger (B4), the resident assistant on duty at the time of the incident, the flooding began when pipes on the second floor contracted and water came up through the drain of the second-floor women's restroom.

The water flooded the second floor, then flowed through the seams of the building and the electrical circuits to the first floor. Approximately two hours after the flooding started, the duty engineer and Smith's Plumbing Service arrived at the scene to take care of the problem. A wet-dry vacuum was used to clean up the water that had flooded the hallways and dorm rooms.

Residents were working well past 3 a.m. to clean up the water.

The amount of damage cause by the flooding is still unknown.