Workers investigate and repair fire damage in the basement of Guerin Hall. The fire started about 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 31 due to electrical problems./ Photo by Annie Jones
By Danya Long
Editor-in-Chief
(Appeared in Sept. 7 issue of The Woods)
Sue Weatherwax walked out of Guerin Hall, which still reeked of smoke on Sept. 1, toting her empty fish tank to her car. Weatherwax, the associate director of publications at SMWC, was one of dozens of faculty and staff members who retrieved their belongings from Guerin offices after the basement fire forced their evacuation the day before.
There was minimal damage to Weatherwax’s office, and all of her fish survived the fire. The only areas of Guerin to suffer significant damage were the basement and the Master of Leadership Development office on the first floor.
The Guerin fire started in the basement around 12:30 p.m. due to a shortage in the electrical wiring. No one was injured in the fire, but many inconveniences arose for the SMWC community. Most of all, every faculty and staff member with an office in Guerin was forced to evacuate and now has been relocated into another building.
The president’s office has been moved to room 141 in Le Fer Hall. The office of financial aid, registrar’s office, and business office have all been relocated to the President’s Room on the first floor of the Rooney Library. The offices of advancement, alumnae relations, publications, graduate programs, Woods External Degree program, and affected faculty have been moved to remote locations around campus and at home for some.
“We are able to perform our jobs in an efficient manner as possible. We all have laptops and are able to access the server to download any projects we are working on at the time,” says Weatherwax about the publication department. “We were able to gather our personal belongings around 2:30 p.m. the same day the fire occurred. Our door was shut, which helped keep the smoke to a minimal. Other than that, the office looked great.”
Sue Weatherwax, associate director of publications at SMWC, carries her empty fish tank out of her Guerin office on Sept. 1 after she was forced to relocate due to smoke damage. / Photo by Colleen Daum
Susan Decker’s office, director of Master of Leadership Development, received the most damage of any office. There are three holes in the floor and a bit of smoke damage, as well as a broken window that had to be knocked out for the fire. Decker praised the work of the firefighters, commenting on the great job they did preserving the things in her office.
“They were able to pull the hard drives from the computers, so the damage was minimal,” said Decker. “I was already taking a couple of days off for labor day so I will be working from home.”
Along with faculty and staff relocations, campus classes were also moved to different areas of the campus. For a list of these new locations, see below.
During the fire, the power was cut to the campus buildings. Because of this, several students were stuck in the elevators in Le Fer Hall. Freshman Madeleine Gonzalez was one of the students stuck.
“We just sat there and talked…We were just trying to stay calm,” said Gonzalez.
Freshman Kayla Scheuerman was also stuck in the elevator with Gonzalez. In an interview via Facebook on Aug. 31, she said she was trapped with four other students. She commented that they did not feel they were in danger.
The majority of the damage done to Guerin Hall was due to smoke and water, according to fire and college officials. The SMWC website reported that smoke also traveled to the Conservatory from a tunnel that connects it to Guerin.
The SMWC website also reported that the process of cleaning offices will take about 3-4 weeks. A thorough Information Technology infrastructure audit may take even longer.
Sugar Creek firefighters arrived at the scene of the electrical fire that started about 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 31 in the basement of Guerin Hall. They were able to extinguish the fire by about 1:30 p.m. / Photo by Annie Jones
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