As the ladies of Flippen-Perrin Hall stood in the 50 degree night air around 10:45 last Wednesday, Oct. 24, red and blue police car and fire truck lights lit up the facades of the surrounding buildings. A charred refrigerator and microwave sat in the orange-yellow light of a street lamp and every one was asking the same question: what happened?
“A fellow staff member called my house,” said Phil Hardin, assistant to the president for administration, who was on campus within minutes of the start of the dorm fire. “I felt confident that it was being handled and it was. Everyone acted quickly and handled it well. The maintenance crew and safety crew were right on the spot.”
Hardin said that the students made the proper moves upon leaving the building, including standing on the grounds across from Flippen-Perrin Hall and staying clear of the emergency crews. “Ouachita students are great,” he said.
Residents of the hall exited the building upon smelling smoke and hearing shouts about a “real actual fire,” even though the fire alarm had not yet sounded.
“It actually didn’t go off until about half of us were out there [outside the dorm],” said Bonnie McQuitty, a junior Christian studies major who lives on the second floor of Flippen.
At the time, no one knew what had caused the fire. Rumors floated through cell phone conversations on the scene and around campus the following days, the only solid fact being that the fire occurred in a first floor Flippen room. Though talk of the fire has for the most part quieted, the true cause of the fire is still unknown even to those closest to the scene. Abby Adams, a senior musical theatre major lives in the suite next to where the fire started.
“I was told by the fire marshal that the refrigerator exploded,” Adams said, who spoke with the fire chief the night of the fire. “It caused an electrical fire.”
Since that night, the cause has been re-evaluated.
“As far as could be told by the fire chief and our maintenance staff, it appears that a toaster malfunctioned and burned up,” Hardin said.
The toaster caused the refrigerator and microwave upon which the toaster was stacked to also catch flame. “Most of the damage was from smoke,” as opposed to actual flames Hardin said.
“Everything had to be cleaned because of the smoke,” said Margaret Frazier, director of campus housing, who has been helping the two girls (whose names have been withheld) whose room was damaged cope with the event. She said that several students began to help the girls right after the occurrence.
“Girls started washing clothes [and] helped them move,” Frazier said.
The girls are now living in a previously vacant suite across the hall.
“They were moving in until 2 a.m.” said Adams. “The next morning there were already maintenance people in the room.”
In an effort to help the girls recover from the event, clean-up of the damaged room has been fairly rapid.
“Our staff is helping out all they can,” Hardin said. “Their room has been cleaned … and by Friday of this week they will have it re-painted.”
Frazier said that she is going to give the girls the choice of moving back or staying in the room across the hall.
As for the rest of the residents in Flippen-Perrin Hall, no damage was done. “They [the residents] weren’t out of the dorm much more than an hour because the damage was contained in one room,” Hardin said.
