A combination washer-dryer unit caught fire in the Courtyard at Winthrop residence hall before midnight on Monday, filling the first floor with toxic smoke. There were no injuries.
Facilities management is unsure what caused the fire, as it destroyed most of the washer-dryer unit. Besides a small amount of smoke damage and fire extinguisher debris, the room was undamaged.
“The fire occurred actually inside the stackable washer dryer, not in the dryer component, but in the space below the dryer and above the washer,” James Grigg, associate vice president of facilities management, said. “I’ve looked in it briefly, I haven’t torn it apart, see if I can see what happened… We may never know, because just the amount of damage to the unit, it may just be ‘it happened in this space.’”
Grigg is hoping to find a similar unit to take apart to see if the issue may happen again.
A clean-up contractor has cleaned the room, and the painter has started work. The students who lived in the room have been temporarily moved to Lee Wicker residence hall and are set to move back in late Tuesday.
According to Assistant Chief of Police Charles Yearta, Residence Life members had already put out the fire when the officers arrived at the scene at 11:33 p.m.
“Residence Life, their training kicked in, they did a wonderful job,” he said. “Best response I’ve seen in a while to be honest with you.”
After checking to make sure everyone was out of the building, police opened the West Center to residents of Courtyard, so they could get out of the cold.
When the fire department arrived, they took temporary control of the scene, checked to ensure the fire was out, checked the building one more time to ensure all students were out and began to clear out the smoke with fans. Facilities management arrived soon after with industrial fans and air scrubbers.
Students began to be let back in at 12:20 a.m., starting with the third floor and moving down. All students, except for those in the affected room, were back in the hall by 12:40 a.m.
Yearta stressed the importance of evacuating when a fire alarm goes off, even when it may be a drill.
“As you know, unfortunately, there are some students who, even though a fire alarm is going off, they won’t leave their building, because they think it’s a drill. They think nothing’s to it,” he said. “This is why we do those drills. This is why those drills are important.”
As of Jan. 28, Residence Life has not replied to a request for comment.
