The Salisbury Fire and Police departments are
investigating a fire that destroyed a Livingstone College
dorm room Tuesday night, a fire they describe as
“suspicious.”
The Salisbury Fire
Department, with the assistance from the Franklin and
Spencer departments, responded to a fire in Dancy Hall, a
dorm holding 145 students on the Livingstone campus.
This morning, officials
were not sure what started the fire that destroyed Room
202 and caused heat, smoke and water damage to a wing of
the second floor, but they have ruled the fire suspicious,
according to Salisbury Assistant Chief Rick Fesperman.
No one was hurt during the
incident, but the residents of Dancy Hall have been
displaced.
Fesperman and police
officials would not release the names of the students in
Room 202.
Between 4 and 4:30 a.m., a
student who lives across the hall from Room 202 noticed
the fire and pulled the fire alarm. Students began to
evacuate the three-story building.
Fesperman said firefighters
had a difficult time ensuring all the students were out of
the building because many of them used deadbolts on their
doors. He said a resident adviser told firefighters that
the deadbolts on the doors were installed by the students
and that there were no keys to the doors. Fesperman said
the firefighters tried every way possible but eventually
had to kick the doors in.
“It’s our job to check
those rooms,” Fesperman said.
According to Livingstone
Public Relations Director Crystal Saddler, the dorm policy
allows students to install individual locks as long as the
housing director has a copy of the key, but she said this
dorm did not have any individual locks. She said six rooms
in the dorm used the deadbolts because their primary locks
did not work. She was not sure if the master key would
open the deadbolts.
Saddler said the
firefighters tried to use the master key on deadbolts of
rooms that only used the knob lock. When they could not
open the dead bolt, she said, they kicked the door in.
Fesperman said the
inspectors will look into the lock situation with the
school.
“I think it’s just too
early to make a call about changing policy,” Sadler
said.
Firefighters quickly had
the fire under control and, within an hour, had the entire
scene controlled. Rockwell City and Granite Quarry fire
departments manned two of Salisbury’s stations while
they were working on the fire.
Once the scene is secured,
students will be allowed back in the building to get
personal belongings. Students were staying in the
gymnasium and cafeteria this morning.
Saddler said the school had
not decided this morning about where to put students for
the remainder of exam week. Saddler said students will be
leaving campus in a few days when exams are over.
Fesperman said the damaged
room can be remodeled.
Built in 1972, Dancy Hall
is not required to have a sprinkler system due to its age
and size, Fesperman said, but it is equipped with smoke
detectors and alarm pull stations.
Saddler said the school’s
president, Dr. Algeania Freeman, wanted to thank Wal-Mart
and the community members who helped get supplies for the
displaced students.
