Dorm Blaze: White Hall Update

Jaguars across campus were shocked to hear that a fire began in Horace G. White Hall, the men’s dormitory located on the outskirts of campus. The fire began on the second story, in bedroom 214 on Thursday, September 28.
Luckily, the inhabitants of the room were not present at the time that the blaze started.
Freshman Mechanical Engineering major and occupant of White Hall, Douglass Smith, described the disbelief that circulated within the dorm when word of the blaze first spread, noting that residents who were lounging downstairs scoffed at the notion of a fire, until clouds of smoke began billowing from the stairs.
Firefighters responded fairly quickly, spraying their hoses at the site until the flames and smoke finally dissipated. Fortunately, nobody was harmed during the incident. However, the same cannot be said for the state of the dormitory, or for the condition of the residents’ property.
Smith related his own struggles that resulted from the fire, saying, “I had to be moved to Grandison Hall, and I had to get all my clothes washed two or three times to get the smell of smoke out.”
All of the students affected by the blaze have been relocated to new housing sites around campus. Despite these hardships, many of White’s occupants were able to maintain a positive outlook about the situation.
Sophomore, Artis McCoy, whose room was located in the vicinity of the fire, said that the water from the sprinkler systems and the firemen’s hoses damaged some of his belongings. Though he noted that while he was slightly saddened by the loss of a few things, McCoy said, “Things can be replaced, so it’s all good.”
Word of the fire spread and rumors quickly began to circulate about how it started. While the cause of the fire has not been officially confirmed by any authorities in White Hall, the most widely accepted and probable cause was of an electrical nature; faulty wiring located underneath a tenant’s bed was said to have been the kindling for the blaze.
Brandon Jones, the second-year Business major who was a resident of room 214, expressed his thanks that the damage was not more widespread. However, he did express some displeasure at how the university handled the recovery process.
“I think Southern could have handled the situation better after the fire. They didn’t accommodate my roommate and I immediately after; it took them a while to help us.”
This incident has prompted many to question the current state of the dormitories. If faulty electrical engineering was the cause for such an impactful event, students living in William Reed and other dormitories are now concerned about the possibility of experiencing the same fate.
Furthermore, students have begun to question how Southern’s infrastructure will take action to prevent incidents of this nature in the future. So far, the student body has not received a definite answer, but one is sure to come in the wake of the recovery from the fire.