A fire gutted a first-floor room in Wheeler residence hall last night, filling the halls with smoke and leading to the evacuation of the entire building.
Although the sprinkler system had extinguished the fire by the time the Hanover Fire Department arrived, the firemen were forced to break both windows of the room in order to ventilate the area before entering, according to Hanover Fire Captain Geryl Frankenfield.
The fire started at about 6:40 p.m. in Room 114 , a triple occupied by freshmen Heather Reeves, Juliana Sasaki and Sara Hong. The room was unoccupied at the time.
The students' entire room as well as all of its contents were destroyed, both by the fire and smoke as well as water damage from the sprinkler. A melted computer and monitor were visible through one of the broken windows. The damage in the rest of the building was minimal.
Wheeler resident Svante Horn '03 said he first heard a faint beeping while he was down the hall and decided to investigate. Horn said he smelled smoke as he approached Room 114 and determined that the room was the source of the odor. The smell of smoke quickly permeated the entire floor, according to several residents.
"The door was not hot, so I opened it and the room was full of smoke. I could see that the fire was under the desk," Horn said. "The best way I can describe it was a plastic mesh thing on fire."
Horn said he took a blanket and tried to extinguish the fire, but it was already too big.
Horn and several other students then left the building, which was evacuated by Safety and Security who had been alerted by the fire alarm.
"The fire was going for at least two minutes before the alarm went off in the rest of the building," he said. "It was already pretty big by the time the alarm went off."
Frankenfield said the two minute response was standard and that there was not a real danger the fire would have spread into the rest of the building.
Frankenfield said the sprinkler head in the room reached 165 degrees, the minimum temperature necessary to set off the sprinkler system, but the room itself was much hotter.
The remains of the fire were contained using a fire extinguisher.
While no specific cause had been determined by the Hanover Fire Department during the primary investigation immediately following the fire, Frankenfield said the department believed "something under the desk" may have caused the fire. The case is still under investigation.
Safety and Security Officer Michael Wilds spent time trying to comfort the students who lost their belongings in the fire.
Wilds told the students that they would be housed in Dean's rooms for tonight and that more permanent arrangements would be worked out later. Wilds also said the students could speak with a counselor or dean on call if they wanted someone to talk to.
