On Sunday, Jan. 25, at around 5 p.m., a dryer unit in Whitman North dormitory caught fire, prompting the evacuation of the entire building. No students were harmed, and there was minimal damage to the school and personal belongings.
Students on the third floor of Whitman North reported that, upon exiting their rooms due to the alarm, they found black smoke billowing from the laundry room. Ay-Zoh Shaw ’29, a third-floor resident, recalls that “before the typical fire alarm sound even happened, there were these like two to four really low tones,” they thought, “oh that’s weird, like something’s going on.” As they opened their door, “immediately there was black smoke pouring out of the laundry room…just filling up the hallway so quickly.”
Students quickly filed out of the building and milled around in the cold, waiting for the all-clear to go back inside, assuming it was just a random fire drill, in typical SLU fashion. That was until Safety and Security Officer Jarred Cole arrived with lights and sirens blaring.
“J. Cole on the scene, he arrives in the car, and he goes inside to look, and he comes out, and he’s like, sprinting back to his car. He’s like everybody, away from the building. Everybody, go, go! He runs back inside with a fire extinguisher. And he’s just like, we constantly see him running around,” said Shaw, as they recounted their time waiting outside.
After some time, the Canton Fire Department arrived on the scene and swiftly dealt with the situation. Vice President of Student Life Jon Duraj says the school is “thankful for the support from Canton Fire.” He states that, “at SLU, we have strong partnerships with Canton Fire, Canton Rescue, and Canton PD. This is another example of maintaining those relationships because we want to work together to keep students safe.”
Just before 7:00 p.m., SLU received the all-clear, and students were allowed back into the building.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire, all Whitman North residents were given the option to move out of their rooms for the night to avoid the lingering smoke smell in the air and on the carpets. Third-floor students, though, were required to move. The school worked quickly to identify alternate rooms for these students and provided them with blankets and sheets if they chose. These students were moved to the third floor of Whitman Central, which Shaw said, “had just as much of a smell as North.” The students remained in these temporary room assignments until last Wednesday, after facilities cleaned the carpets and the school determined how the fire occurred. The school states that it was an electrical fire that started in the machinery and was not the result of any student’s action.
Additionally, although the sprinklers went off in the third-floor hallway, most students were not affected by much water damage, as their doormats absorbed the water before it reached their rooms.
In the past two weeks, the school has taken many steps to help affected students and to ensure a similar incident does not occur in the future. Duraj states that “one of the things we’re doing as a proactive measure, not just in Whitman but across campus, is that facilities and the laundry vendor are checking the laundry units.” The school has also cleaned the carpets in Whitman North and has told students that if they have any personal damages, they can file a form to be reimbursed.
Vice President of Student Life Jon Duraj commends the Whitman North students for their strong sense of community, which has enabled them to face this recent challenge effortlessly.