Clark I residents rushed to evacuate shortly before 7:00 am Thursday morning when a fire broke out in room 111, triggering fire alarms and spilling flames into the dorm’s northwest corner. The fire consumed the two-room double of Dusty Baker ’01 and Ryan Williams ’01, but was extinguished by Los Angeles County firefighters before it could spread to other rooms. Smoke pervaded several other rooms, displacing eight to 10 additional students until cleaning crews can clear up the soot and odor; the cleaning will likely be completed sometime this weekend.

Dean of Students Ann Quinley reported that the fire probably began when something ignited Baker’s couch, though the official cause of the fire will remain unknown until investigators release their report. Williams, who lives in the inside room of the two-room double, was forced to evacuate through flames in Baker’s room when he was awakened by the fire alarm. Baker was elsewhere when the fire began.

"I woke up to the fire alarm and tried to go back to sleep," Williams said. "Then I determined that it was the smoke detector for my room, and I looked at Dusty’s door and it was kind of glowing. I opened the door and the couch was on fire. I put on a shirt and some shorts and ran out of the room… I went looking for a fire extinguisher, but by the time I found one, in the laundry room, flames were already coming out of the window."

Mikey Gaertner After containing the blaze, firefighters checked roof tiles to prevent reignition.

As firefighters arrived, residents gathered on the rugby field next to the Clark I parking lot, where students were crossed off of an all-dorm list as they were accounted for. The evacuation was led by RA Shelley Kunasek ’01, who pulled the fire alarm that finally worked, and several campus safety officers and grounds staff who arrived on scene after the evacuation began. The alarm was pulled twice before without working.

According to Kunasek, the fire was noticed by Diane Beck ’01 and Sharon Ross ’01, who then ran around knocking on doors, trying to alert students. Alex Planck ’01, who was walking by and saw the fire, called campus security, Kunasek affirmed.

"It’s probably good that the fire alarm didn’t work at first," Kunasek said. "Because students might have just ignored it. It was good that we had people running around, banging on doors."

Several groups discussed their initial reaction to hearing pounds on doors and a fire alarm, and many said that they assumed it was some sort of prank or fraternity initiation.

"I didn’t think it was a real fire at first, but I figured I should check outside to see what was going on," Clark I resident Nathan Boyd ’01 said. "Then I

I residents could not return to their rooms for an unspecified amount of time while building inspectors checked the safety of the dorm. Electricity and gas supplies were turned off in Clark I and inspectors from the gas company arrived on scene.

Meanwhile, firefighters were atop Clark I demolishing the roof above the two-room double with axes and chain saws. Firefighters do this to prevent embers from smoldering in ceiling beams and igniting another fire later on. A few feet away, behind yellow tape cordoning off the charred rooms, firefighters and investigators asked Baker and Williams.

"The insurance investigators got there first and asked us if we were smoking last night," Baker said. "They pretty much seemed like they didn’t want to pay for anything, and they kept trying to get us to contradict ourselves so that they could see if the fire was our fault."

Baker guessed that the fire was most likely caused by an electrical problem, and said that fire department investigators tended to agree with that guess.

"The idea that it was a cigarette seems really implausible to me," Baker said. "We hadn’t really even been in the room since early that night."

Students were allowed back into most of Clark I just before 9 am, but were advised to gather an overnight bag as utilities would be cut off to the dorm for an unknown period of time. Staff continued to assess damages to make sure that turning utilities back on would not create an unsafe situation. That assessment was made, and most Clark I residents were allowed back in their rooms by early afternoon.

Baker and Williams spent Thursday night at the Claremont Inn.

"Our goal is to make things as convenient for the students, especially Dusty and Ryan, as possible," Quinley said.

Director of Campus Planning and Maintenance Jim Hanson stated that the college would renovate the charred rooms as soon as possible after insurance investigators ended their investigation. Renovation on all of Clark I was already slated to begin this summer.