Early in the morning on Tuesday, Feb. 14, dorm room 209 in Orr Hall caught on fire.
Two people, a resident and a resident’s assistant, were injured and treated on the scene, while the rest of the hall residents were unharmed and evacuated to a safe space.
The fire was believed to be accidental. It was reported that an electrical charging base started a spark that went up in flames after catching a pile of clothes. The fire damaged several objects in the room, including a desk, clothes, and a nearby bed, according to Laramie Fire Department (LFD) operation Chief Kevin Lam. Soon after, 11 firefighters sped to the scene to assess and remedy the situation.
“Most of us are thinking, okay, it’s probably either burnt food, or it’s a dirty detector because that’s most of the time what happens. So, it doesn’t really raise a lot of anxiety or tension for us to respond because this is kind of a normal thing,” Lam said “Well, as we were arriving at Orr Hall, we noticed that the entire building did go into alarm just as we were arriving, which was a change.”
Hannah Cabral, a freshman at UW, is an Orr Hall resident who was evacuated during the fire.
“[The alarm] told us to evacuate the dorm but wait in the corridors for further instruction. And I mean, usually, it’s the beeping noise. So when we heard this, we were like, oh no, like something actually happened,” Cabral said.
Freshman Olivia Rosenthal echoed similar sentiments.
“We were all waiting by the staircase, kind of like, what are we going to do? Then right when we opened the door, you smelled the smoke, and we were like, oh, it’s an actual fire. Then everyone just started bolting down the stairs,” Rosenthal said.
Room 209 is now damaged from the smoke and fire, but the rest of the building remained intact.
The 200 evacuees of the dorm spent the remainder of the night on beds set up in the lower level of Washakie. Dean Ryan O’Neill was in attendance to show her support for the temporarily rehomed students.
“The primary concern of the Dean of Students Office is providing care and support to all those affected by the fire and temporary displacements.” Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life Ryan Schamp said.
The two residents of the room were not present at the time of the fire.
“If during the course of investigation, it is found that the source of the fire was contributed or caused through a violation of University policy, then the Dean of Students Office would follow the course of action prescribed within the Student Code of Conduct,” Schamp said.
The fire itself took just under six minutes to put out, yet residents were only allowed to return to their rooms after UW Facilities, UW Safety, UW Residence Life, and Laramie Fire Prevention deemed the building safe, secure, and free of risk. Students returned home around 11 a.m.
“The reason that fires like these are actually pretty quick to control is the building is all concrete and steel with the exception of the furnishings. It’s always a contents fire, so we don’t worry about the fire spreading to the structure itself,” Lam said.
“The next part of our job is to ventilate the building and get all those nasty products out of the building to the best of our ability. And that takes time, especially in a large building like a dormitory. Because you got multiple floors, you got lots of rooms, and it takes some time.”
Lam has worked for LFD for 22 years, and advises students to monitor what they put near electrical outlets and reduce the number of cords plugged into charging bases.
Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life Ryan Schamp echoed the same thoughts.
“Residence Life is considering ways in which we can make the fire safety information more readily available to residents and to show the reasons for the policies. Further, through the course of investigation, Residence Life, Housing, and UWPD will debrief to determine if any policies or procedures require refinement to further protect the safety of the on-campus community.”
Sergeant Josh Holland with UWPD told The Branding Iron that the case is still under investigation by both the UW police department and the Laramie Fire Department. They referred individuals to the press release issued by the university should people have any questions or concerns.
