On Tuesday, March 26, a fire occurred in a resident’s room in Travis Hall, causing everyone to evacuate.
The fire alarms began going off around 5:40 p.m. The Department of Public Safety Fire Log stated that the fire was accidental and was caused by a battery fire.
Merrill/Travis Hall Senior Staff Advisor Zach Rhodes, a senior majoring in secondary education, was one of the first to take charge of the situation before the fire started to spread.
“Me and another [residential advisor] were walking down the lobby, walking at a calm pace and that was when I saw a resident run down with a fire extinguisher to the desk,” Rhodes said. “After this took place, I began to get more concerned about what was about to unravel, and I was told by another RA that this fire was actually real. I began to take measures to secure the building and get everyone away from danger.”
According to Rhodes, the immediate concern appeared when he first noticed that the whole Travis Hall first-floor hallway was filled with black smoke at an intensive level to where he couldn’t see two doors down, and all that was visible to the human eyes were the ceiling lights.
Allied health science sophomore Genesis Davis, who lived one door down from the resident, shared her experience when the fire first started happening.
“I was taking a nap, and I heard this scream,” Davis said. “And then I heard his fire alarm go off and it sounded like it was from upstairs. I got up and grabbed my phone, my keys, and my backpack, and before I had my shoes on my alarm was going off. I opened my hall and six feet down it was black smoke, and I couldn’t see anything. I screamed and started running.”
Residents weren’t allowed back into the room until 8:00 p.m. The resident of the room where the fire occurred relocated to another room. No one was injured in the fire. Despite the time and the cause of the fire being on the record, DPS was unable to give any further comments and information to the Torch.
Due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, housing declined to give the student’s information to the Torch.
S.E. E.S.
CE – RS / C.F. /AM