Fallon Deatherage-Bradley
News Editor
Schubert Heights is once again full of residents after last semester’s fire left it vacant for the remainder of the spring semester.
The fire started the evening of March 31 around 6:30 p.m. in a kitchen on the fourth floor from food left unattended on a stove. It spread quickly and consumed three dorm rooms completely. The flames touched a few other rooms. Smoke and water damaged several more.
The Pocatello Fire Department was able to get all 70 residents out safely, including two students on the fourth floor, who along with their cat, had to be rescued by ladder.
Nicholas Taylor, a student living in Schubert at the time of the fire, remembers trying to put the fire out with one of the Schubert Heights fire extinguishers before being forced to turn back whenthe flames got too hot. Residents were allowed to return to their rooms to salvage what they could a few days later.
“Others had a lot more smoke damage because of how the fire traveled and lost a lot more than I did, even though the fire started a few doors down from mine,” Taylor said. “If you closed your door, you had a better chance of saving your belongings because it was a fire-proof door.”
Initially, the Red Cross stepped up to provide students with food, clothing and medicine replacements, and later they provided each student with a spending card to buy anything else they needed.
Many at ISU were eager to find ways to help the affected students including Maxwell Daniels, a reactor supervisor in the College of Science and Engineering. Daniels set up a GoFundMe page with the goal to raise $1,000 for each of the residents to be able to replace belongings. Although the page fell short of the initial goal, all the money was distributed to residents through University Housing.
“Some of the individuals affected by this fire are students and interns in my college,” Daniels said.
In order for students to move in for the fall semester, old carpet that used to cover the floors and stairs have been removed and updated. All the kitchens have new appliances, and gone are the old couches and beds, replaced with newer items. Despite all this, some things have not changed.
“Living in Schubert again this year and seeing how much it truly affected the building takes me back,” Taylor said. “There is no carpet on the stairs, the fourth floor is blocked off and you can still see fire damage on the side of the building near where my room was, as well as the big window that exploded is all boarded up and covered by blinds.”
Despite occasional night terrors as a result of the fire, Taylor remains optimistic moving forward.
“I was able to bounce back quickly as far as everything goes, but mentally it has put a damper on how I handle certain situations,” Taylor said. “For now, I’ll just live on and maybe hopefully get help for the mental effects it has put on me.”
