Students who live in McGill residences are all too familiar with fire drills. Last Tuesday, however, New Residence Hall experienced the real thing.
In the late morning, a small fire on the 14th floor set off the sprinklers, causing major water damage to 12 rooms, which has dislocated a number of students to a hotel for the rest of the semester.
After pulling an all-nighter for a chemistry midterm, Aleksandra, a student who wishes only to be identified by her first name, lit a scented candle on her windowsill to help herself fall asleep at 9:45 a.m. Bothered by the sunlight coming through the window, she got up, shut the curtains, and went back to bed.
Her roommate returned from class around 10:10 and two minutes later the curtains were ablaze.
“I turned around and saw the fire a half a metre away from my head,” Aleksandra said.
The girls tried to smother the flames to no avail. They got a fire extinguisher from the hallway, but couldn’t get back into the room because the door had locked behind them. They went to pull the hallway fire alarms, but couldn’t get any to work. Frantically, they rushed down the building, stopping at each floor trying to find one that would sound. The alarms, in fact, were working, but the alert sounds had been disabled because of maintenance.
“The crazy coincidence, which had about the same odds as winning the lottery, was that we were doing some maintenance on the sprinkler system at that exact time, so we shut off the actual bell, not the alarm system, so that we wouldn’t accidentally have to evacuate 700 people,” said Michael Porritt, McGill director of residences.
Building employees used the building intercom to inform students, and the alarms, functioning silently, still notified the Montreal Fire Department. According to a Montreal Fire Department representative firefighters, received notice at 10:23 a.m. and had taken care of the fire by 11:20. All 700 students in the residence were evacuated safely and efficiently.
“It was one of the fastest evacuations we’ve ever had,” said Porritt.
The fire did not spread beyond Aleksandra’s room, and only damaged the curtains, the window, the wall, and a pillow. The real costs of the fire are a result of water damage. Sprinklers damaged four rooms on the 14th floor, four rooms on the 12th, and four rooms on the 11th badly enough that they will not be usable for the rest of the year. 20 students have had to move, 18 to the Delta Hotel at the intersection of President Kennedy and City Councillors Avenues, and two to other rooms in New Rez.
According to an email sent from Porritt to all New Residence residents, construction on the damaged rooms will begin in May. Given that it will take six weeks, there is no incentive for McGill Residences to rush to complete it before the end of the school year as there is no chance that students will be able to move back into them. Meanwhile, Residences will be replacing wet drywall and insulation in the near future.
The estimated costs of the damage would not be available for several weeks, Porritt said. Also, at this point it is unclear whether Aleksandra will be held liable. Open flames are forbidden in McGill Residences, which might put her at risk. A disciplinary hearing is tentatively planned.
“It was a total accident,” said Aleksandra, “It could have happened to anyone.”
“I want to apologize to all the people who had to get relocated,” she added.
