Friday
Aug202010
Owens building on fire
Friday, August 20, 2010 at 2:56PM
STAFF REPORTS
New at 2 p.m.: The Johnsonian has reports of at least one resident displaced from her Margaret Nance room due to smoke on campus. Check back for her story later.
New at 2 p.m.: The Johnsonian has reports of at least one resident displaced from her Margaret Nance room due to smoke on campus. Check back for her story later.
New at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday: All Monday classes are canceled, according to a Winthrop University press release.
New at 10:30 p.m.: Fire trucks on campus are currently being refueled. In order to pump the water to the fire, the trucks' engines must constantly be running.
The trucks run on diesel fuel, which is less flammable than gasoline. Because diesel is not volatile, trucks can be refueled while the engine is still running.
New at 10:23 p.m.: Fire crews are still on the scene with EMS, Rock Hill Police Department and Winthrop Police Department.
New at 8:40 p.m. :Firefighters spraying the roof of Owens with three hoses.
New at 8:27p.m. : Firefighters are dousing Bancroft in order to prevent the fire from spreading. Two water hoses are currently at Bancroft to try and protect the building.
Firefighters are trying to control a fire that spread throughout the roof of 32,200-square-foot Owens Hall on Saturday. No injuries have been reported.
Mike Blackmon, chief of the Rock Hill Fire Department, said firefighters don't have complete control over the fire, which is in a space between the third-floor ceiling and the roof of 2-year-old Owens. Firefighters are trying to contain the fire since about 3 p.m. so that it won't spread to Bancroft Hall.
Sprinklers are activated on the third floor of Owens. Damages couldn't be estimated at this time, Blackmon said. Owens cost $6.5 million. The cost of the damage to the building will be assessed next week.
About 38 firefighters are on the scene with more on the way. The Rock Hill Fire Department is coordinating with Winthrop University maintenance personnell to stop the fire.
Fire Prevention Captain Otis Driggers said firefighters are pulling back sections of the roof to get water to the fire. They are cutting through wood and metal.
He said it will be a slow process. A lighting system has been brought to the scene in preparation for nightfall.
Police have closed all the area around Scholar's Walk and have cut off power in Bancroft Hall.
Police have closed all the area around Scholar's Walk and have cut off power in Bancroft Hall.
The Director of the York County Office of Emergency Management, Cotton Howell, said their department works with Winthrop to plan for fires.
"Winthrop is a very planned facility," Cotton said. "On non-fire days the response is planned out."
Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Karen Jones said she is working on rescheduling classes, in terms of changing times and locations. She said her goal is not to cancel any classes because of the fire. The updated schedule will be posted on the Winthrop Web site as soon as possible.
Owens Hall will be closed indefinitely.
All events tonight have been canceled, according to a text message sent out by WU Alert.
Junior Stephanie Eaton said she saw black smoke coming from Owens building at 2:51 p.m. and called campus police. Firefighters were dispatched at 2:52 and arrived at the scene at 2:57 p.m. Nobody was in the building when the firefighters arrived.
"It was a good thing that no one was in there since it's a Saturday," Eaton said.
The last fire at Winthrop was two years ago in Johnson Hall when theater curtains caught on fire. The most recent fire before that was in 1986 when Kinard Hall was struck by lightning.
All evening campus events are canceled for Saturday, according to the Winthrop Alert system. Students are asked to avoid the Scholars Walk area.
