Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: News

Centennial Hall Room 463, then occupied by sophomores Jennifer True and Sarah Foster, caught fire early Tuesday morning, resulting in the evacuation of C-Hall students for several hours and a Department of Public Safety officer suffering from smoke inhalation. No other injuries were reported.

"At about 3 a.m. a couple students identified that there was a fire in one of the rooms in Centennial 463," said John Gardner, interim director of Residence Life. "Either the fire set off the alarm, or they pulled the alarm. Students evacuated, and DPS was there almost immediately. DPS and our staff member went up to check on the situation and determined it was a legitimate fire."

The Kirksville Fire Department arrived minutes later and extinguished the fire, Gardner said. The fire department investigated the situation while students were moved to the Student Union Building.

"Whenever we have an actual fire, it takes a while before the fire department will OK us to let students back in," Gardener said. "We wanted to make sure students were warm and had a place to stay and relax a little bit."

Kirksville Fire Chief Randy Behrens said the Department of Public Safety Missouri State Fire Marshall investigated the room Tuesday, but has not determined anything. The case is still under investigation.

Freshman C.J. Hoffman lives in 4 South and said she questioned the legitimacy of the alarm at first.

"At first we thought it was just cooking because that's happened before," Hoffman said. "We nonchalantly got ready, put our coats on. Then when we walked we saw all the smoke and thought, 'This might be something.'"

Once the students were in the SUB, student advisers separated them by floor and took roll to confirm everyone was accounted for. Students not living in 4 South returned to their rooms at 4:45 a.m.

"Then at 9 a.m. we were all able to get back to our rooms, except for a few rooms that were right next to the room," Hoffman said.

Gardner said the fire was initially determined to be electrical.

"Many things could lead to this, like Christmas lights or jamming too many kinds of extension cords into an improper or in poor-condition type of extension cord or splitter," he said.

Gardener said he was aware of some property damage but that the property is the owner's liability, and in most cases Truman doesn't cover the cost of replacements. He said there are exceptions to that policy, but a decision hasn't been made regarding their property at this time.

The Residence Life Handbook reads, "The University shall not be responsible for the loss of, or damage to, any personal property of a student from any cause whatsoever. In the event the room assigned to a student is destroyed or rendered wholly uninhabitable by the University and the University does not elect to furnish other accommodations, the contract shall be terminated as of the date of destruction. In the event of such termination, any prepaid room and board fees shall be reduced proportionately. The University recommends that students take out homeowners or apartment insurance to protect their belongings."

Gardener said that the students living in the room will be relocated to another room on campus.

"Our house is pretty close," Hoffman said. "Everyone knows everyone pretty much. It's nice to know everyone can stay close and support each other through these things."

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