An “undetermined odor” spurred fears of a gas leak, according to Firefighter A. A. Trapp. At 11:28 a.m. HOYAlert sent out a text that reported a “possible gas leak” in Maguire, and instructed to “avoid library walk.” HOYAlert later texted that Healy Hall was open, and Maguire Hall remains closed.

In the staff parking lot beside Maguire, there were a number of firemen looking into a manhole (pictured above). Along with two firetrucks, there were three other DCFD vehicles on campus.

Update: 1:15 p.m. HOYAlert texted that “Maguire Hall has reopened.”

photo: Nico Dodd

On Wednesday night, a fire broke out in the eighth floor common room of Harbin Hall.

According to Lt. Reynolds of the D.C. Fire Department, the fire began in the oven when someone tried to heat up a pizza without taking it out of the box.

Around 6:45 p.m., Harbin Hall was immediately evacuated and the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene.

“I was watching TV in my room when the alarm went off. I actually thought it was part of what I was watching,” said Kerry Ryan (COL ’13). “I heard people saying that it smelled in their common room.”

Students gathered outside and waited on the patio as a DPS officer guarded the entrance. At around 7:10 p.m., residents were allowed to return.

Photo by Jackson Perry.

Updated at 4:57 a.m.

Updated at 11:45 a.m. with information from Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Crosswhite.

Update at 1:52 p.m.: Georgetown Senior Vice President Spiros Dimolitsas wrote in an e-mail to the student body that the two workers who were burned are in stable condition. Two DPS officers also suffered from smoke inhalation, he said, and were treated and released early this morning. The equipment that started the fire was a floor stripper.

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A fire broke out early Thursday morning in 221 New North when two maintenance workers contracted by Georgetown University were working with chemicals. Their cleaning tools overheated the chemicals and started the fire, according to D.C. Fire Department personnel. The Fire Department responded to the fire—which, according to Sergeant Nate Blackmon, was contained to the one room—after the fire had already been contained by the sprinkler system, Deputy Fire Chief Gerhart said.

Blackmon told Voice reporters that the two victims were transported to the Georgetown University Hospital for burns to their arms and faces. Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Crosswhite said that they were in critical condition when they arrived at the MedStar Burn Center.

Crosswhite said that the first call came in about the fire at 2:43 a.m. At least a dozen fire trucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles initially responded to the scene.

“The sprinkler system kept the fire in check, but Engine Five extinguished the remaining fire. They just came in to put out what—if any—remaining fire was left,” Crosswhite said.

The cause of the fire was not known until hours after the fire. Shortly after the fire was contained, Gerhart told a Voice reporter, “Basically, we’re waiting to find out from the victims what they know about the causes of the fire.”

Voice reporters who accessed the building said there was flooding on the first and second floors and water and plaster are falling from the ceiling of the first floor. The office where the fire started belongs to Professor James Mattingly. The second floor of New North mostly houses the Philosophy Department.

Alex George and Brandon Butterworth, both Georgetown students, said that they saw a man being taken out on a stretcher around 2:55 a.m., clutching his arm.

Chris Heller and Kara Brandeisky contributed reporting. Photos by Keaton Bedell, Chris Heller, and Eric Pilch.

Based on information from several Fire Department respondents at the scene, we incorrectly reported that the call for the fire came in at 2:10 a.m. The call was made at 2:43 a.m.

Update 10:37: 12 rooms have standing water in them and 23 rooms are “affected” by the water. President John DeGioia and Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson have joined students in Sellinger Lounge where Student Affairs has provided students with ice cream and pizza. Olson said students would have to leave rooms for a “few days, at most,” and that the University is bringing in high-intensity cleaners.

Update 8:58: At an informational meeting in Sellinger, Vice President of University Safety Rocco DelMonaco said that it will take the University 60 to 90 minutes to do an “inventory” of the dorm. Some students will be allowed back into the dorm tonight. Those whose floors were affected by flooding could either stay with a friend or be assigned a place to stay by housing services.

Update 8:31: An RA said that some of the water flooding the third floor had seeped down to the second floor. RAs collected phone numbers from students at an informational meeting in Sellinger Lounge and will contact students to tell them where they can stay tonight.

Update 8:19: The post below now includes information from the D.C. Fire Department and EMS hotline.

Update 7:57: An anonymous RA said that New South will not reopen for a few hours and that some students may have to sleep elsewhere, possibly in the ICC.

Sometime before 7:00 p.m. this evening, a fire broke out in an empty dormitory room on the third floor of New South.

A recorded message on the D.C. Fire Department and EMS hotline said that fire fighters were dispatched just before 7:00 p.m. When they responded to the scene, they evacuated the building and found that the fire had been effectively controlled by the sprinkler system. The fire appears to have been accidental. There were no injuries and only “minimal damage” to a laptop and some other items, the recording said.

According to Kelley Kidd, who said that the fire started in her room, she was sitting in her friend’s nearby dormitory when they “heard a big bang” and then a fire alarm coming from another room. The floor’s Resident Assistant found her to tell her that the alarm was coming from her room. Kidd and her friend opened the door and could see a lot of smoke, she said.

“There was a fire on my desk, about that high and that wide,” Kidd said, motioning that the fire was about two feet tall. “It looked like some books were on fire and it looked like it was beside my laptop.” (Full disclosure: This semester, Kidd wrote a weekly feature for Vox Populi.)

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In 2007, a blaze broke out at the Georgetown Public Library, destroying large portions of the building and leaving the neighborhood without a permanent library for years.  Soon after the fire, the city sued the contractor that had been doing repairs to the library at the time for $13 million, alleging that the heating guns used started the fire.

Unfortunately for D.C., the contractor is contesting that claim, and the lawsuit has revealed that D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services did a less than stellar job investigating the fire.  Washington City Paper‘s Jason Cherkis unearthed court documents and e-mails between the FEMS and the Office of the Attorney General that show the full extent of the investigators’ negligence.

Cherkis’s post is a must-read, but here are a few of the major allegations:

• Lt. Craig Duck led the investigation despite having no training in fire investigation.
• Duck thoroughly bungled the investigation, throwing away crucial evidence.  The evidence he did hold on to was not properly secured or catalogued.
• Investigators may have breached national standards by not making and keeping notes while investigating.
• FEMS was extremely uncooperative when OAG asked them for the requisite documentation from the investigation, failing to hand over investigators’ notes and photographs.

Photo from Flickr user randomduck, used under a Creative Commons license.

A recent report lists 34 locations in the District that the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority and the Fire & EMS Department have identified as having fire hydrants that need “special attention”—and Georgetown University is on that list, according to WUSA9.

According to the WUSA9 article, there are a variety of potential reasons why the University is on the list; possibilities include small water mains, hydrant configuration, topography, access, and the possibility of private hydrants not regulated by WASA.

[DC Fire & EMS Department spokesman Pete] Piringer says if your neighborhood or building is on the list there is no need to panic. He says the fire department has put plans in place to make sure there is an adequate water supply to fight fires.

The list was compiled after firefighters had difficulty suppressing a recent fire on Chain Bridge Road due to low water pressure in nearby hydrants. Hydrant problems also resulted in extra damage when the Georgetown Public Library caught fire a couple years ago.

Georgetown isn’t the only local university to make “special attention” list—Catholic, Gallaudet, Howard’s Law School and George Washington’s Mount Vernon campus are on it as well.

Via Georgetown Metropolitan. Photo from Flickr user Shannon Coffey, used under a Creative Commons license.