Dylon Harrison
Staff Writer
Less than a year after the fire in Schubert Heights, another fire was found burning in another university-owned housing complex.
A fire was found burning in a garbage can in a second-floor bathroom in South Complex’s Redfield dorm on the evening of Aug. 27.
The fire alarm was also pulled a separate time in the same building around 1 a.m., but the two incidences are not suspected to be related.
The fire was found quickly and put out by housing assistant director, Bobby Artega before the Pocatello Fire Department arrived on scene.
At this time, very few details about the fire are known.
“We don’t know what caused the fire,” said ISU Housing Director, Craig Thompson. “Obviously, carelessness, but we don’t know on whose part.”
The fire was discovered by second-floor Resident Assistant, Tyler Vickers, who pulled the fire alarm and started evacuating the building. Vickers was unable to be reached for comment.
After being evacuated, Redfield residents haven’t been given many details.
“I just know that the trash can was on fire,” said Sasha Ambrose, a second floor Redfield resident and Bengal sports reporter. “And we only know that because we could see smoke on our floor.”
Ambrose said after the alarm was pulled, she and the other residents of Redfield, and the adjoined Owens building, were evacuated for about 30 minutes before fire crews allowed them to reenter the building.
Other residents of Redfield had no more information than Ambrose, saying Housing has told them almost nothing about the incident. Multiple residents suspect the fire was likely caused by someone smoking and throwing whatever they were smoking into the paper towel filled garbage can while it was still burning.
There is expected to be no escalation of ensuring residents are following the fire safety rules set by Housing.
“Other than talking about code with our residents, we really try not to be heavy-handed with how we do things,” Thompson said.
Fire safety rules are covered with residents early on in their residency and include rules such as: no candles or cookware with an open flame or coil.
Housing is considering the fire to be a “non-event.”
“We’re saying this is a one-off,” Thompson said. “There haven’t been any additional problems.”
There were no injuries, and some minor melting of the garbage can was the only damage caused by the fire. There have also been no reports of smoke damage.
“I’m happy my staff handled it the way they did,” Thompson said. “We took care of it, in our perception it was an accident, so we’re going forward with that.”
Housing’s fire safety protocols are expected to remain as is after the successful containment of the Redfield fire.
“We take fire danger very seriously,” Thompson said. “And we try to educate our residents on all aspects of preventing fire.”
