News
Midnight fire destroys Gazebo at Dobbins
ALLY ORLANDO
nrivs editor
For Penn State Behrend stu
dents, the events of Monday
night’s fire at Dobbins Hall will
stay in their mind forever.
In a scant four hours, be
tween 11:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.,
the Gazebo at Dobbins erupted
in flames and was completely
destroyed.
No injuries or fatalities oc
cured, as the building was un
inhabited when the fire began.
The "Gazebo" section of the
building was completely en
gulfed in flames as early as
11:45 p.m.
The east side of the building,
which includes the kitchen and
main dining area, suffered
some significant damage, but
was not entirely lost.
Ken Miller, Director of Stu
dent Affairs, said that the dy
namics of how the fire was
focused became one of the
most helpful factors.
“When the windows blew out
in the Gazebo, it acted as a sort
of chimney,” he said. “All of the
heat funneled up the central
part of the Gazebo, and pre
vented a lot of heat damage in
the rest of the building.”
It was enough damage,
though, to force officials to
close Dobbins Dining Hall in
definitely. [See Dobbins Food
services relocated to McGar
vey Commons, below]
For many students, the fire
came as a complete shock, and
made for an interesting night.
"I was working on my home
work in the lobby of Lawrence
and my friend came in and told
us Dobbins was on fire,” said
Lindsey Masterson, a freshman
resident of Lawrence Hall.
“We all ran out and saw
smoke. They told us to move
out of the way, so we went to
Smoke forces Lawrence and Porcupine Hall evacuations
SHAWN ANNARELLI
nwruging editor
“I was upset that they were
having a fire drill so late,” said
freshman Courtney Bassani, a
biology major. “We were pretty
mad that we had to go outside.”
These thoughts echoed
throughout Penn State
Behrend’s Lawrence and Niag
ara Halls as, many students
were unaware of the fire at the
Gazebo at Dobbins
“I was a little bit shocked, be
cause 1 didn’t think a real fire
would ever happen,” Bassani
said.
Approximately 275 students
evacuated the two buildings
around 11:40 p.m. when the
buildings’ smoke detectors
sounded.
“When the smoke detectors
went off in the two nearest
buildings to Dobbins, the stu
Dobbins food services relocated to McGarvey Commons
Mike Fultz / The Behrend Beacon
Students ate a free Continental Breakfast in McGarvey Commons early Tuesday morning. Meals will be temporarily served in McGarvey Commons this week.
Photos by Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon
Hundreds of students gathered to watch emergency crews fight the
fire on the top of the Gazebo at Dobbins Dining Hall. The fire took
around an hour and 20 minutes to be under control.
wards the apartments and saw
the flames and heard the glass
cracking."
Some student bystanders,
who stood in large crowds
watching the flames, even
helped emergency crews that
were on the scene.
"One fireman was trying to
drag a hose up a hill,” said Lind
say Wagner, a junior majoring
in communications. "So some
students came and helped him;
we were all cheering.”
The fire dissipated around
12:45 a.m. and was officially
extinguished at around 1:30
a.m.
“The fire was put under con
trol at approximately 1:20 a.m.
after fighting it for over an hour
and 20 minutes,” said Assistant
Fire Chief of Brookside Fire
dents in those buildings re
sponded appropriately and ex
ited them immediately,” said
Kelly Shrout, Associate Direc
tor of Student Affairs.
“That’s why we do monthly
fire drills,” said Ken Miller, Di
rector of Student Affairs.
“When we do fire drills we
want people out. Sometimes
people get lackadaisical about
it, but last night it was real.”
Evacuated students were di
rected to other residence halls
on campus to keep students
warm and protected.
“Residence Life coordinators
and Resident Assistants di
rected students from Lawrence
to Niagara and from Porcupine
to Tiffany and Tigress,” Shrout
said.
“Part of the RA training is
what to do in emergencies,”
said Bill Gonda, Director of
Marketing Communications
Department Mike Carpin. The
Brookside Fire Department ar
rived on the scene first.
At the time of the fire, stu
dents in Lawrence and Porcu
pine Halls were evacuated and
moved to different locations.
Associate Director of Student
Affairs, Kelly Shrout, said that
275 students were evacuated
from the buildings primarily
because of smoke.
At the time of the evacuation
students in Lawrence Hall were
instructed to go to Niagara
Hall. [See Smoke forces
Lawrence and Porcupine Hall
evacuations, below]
Dobbins was undergoing
renovations before the fire and
is going to need more extensive
renovations after the fire.
“The west end of the building
“When the alarms sounded, the
RAs knew exactly what to do."
A portion of students did not
heed the instructions and opted
to remain outside at safe dis
tances from the blaze.
“Students that stayed outside
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Penn State Behrend Admission;
Arrows show where students went after evacuation Monday.
Housing and Food Service’s management
and Dobbins student employees now oc
cupy McGarvey Commons in the Reed
Union Building.
The Gazebo at Dobbins was deemed in
accessible for students after the west end of
Dobbins got burnt to a crisp exterior.
“We are able to continue to provide food
service to students for the next few days out
of the McGarvey Commons,” said Ken
Miller, Director of Student Affairs.
[the Gazebo area] is a total
loss,” Carpin said. “The interior
kitchen area is a total loss due
to smoke from the fire and
water from extinguishing the
fire.”
Further information on the
conditions of Dobbins will not
be known until later this week.
“The building has been deter
mined to be too unstable to
were probably caught up in the
moment,” Shrout said, “There
were some crowd issues that
impaired some administration
and fire trucks from being
where they needed to be."
Despite minor difficulties in
SHAWN ANNARELLI
managing editor
“We made the decision to relocate Dob
bins staff to McGarvey Commons to accom
modate large groups of people easily,” said
Bill Gonda, Director of Marketing Commu
nications. “It was the natural choice."
Early Tuesday morning Behrend students
were provided with a free Continental
breakfast. Students will have to pay for
their meals beginning Wednesday morning.
There is hope that the kitchen at Dobbins
can still be used to prepare meals for stu
dents.
“If we can use the kitchen, food can be
prepared and then served in a different lo-
Behrend Beacon
March 2, 2010
www.thebehrendbeacon.com
enter," Carpin said. “Further in
vestigation of the building will
be held when the fire marshall
is here [Tuesday].”
“It is unusable, and it remains
to be seen if the building can be
accessed by the students that
work in our dining hall," Gonda
said. "That will be up to the fire
inspectors.
"Our first priority right now is
handling student crowds, there
are no plans to alter the current
evacuation process.
"The evacuation went very
well and 1 don't think that any
thing would change,” Shrout
said. “We treat the students like
adults. It was their decision to
go to where we direct them or
to stand at a safe distance from
the fire."
The first priority of Penn
State administration was to get
students to protection and com
fort.
"The staff led students to safe
areas on campus," Shrout said.
“Some students may find it to
be a nuisance to have to prac
tice fire drills, but last night is
proof that practice works. We
knew what was supposed to
happen and it worked."
Lawrence Hall residents
were allowed back into their
building at 1:30 a.m., while Por-
that students need to be fed.
There is no doubt that our
Housing and Food Services
team will accommodate them. 1 '
According to Ken Miller, the
Director of Student Affairs, the
Dobbins food service will be
run out of McGarvey Commons
until further notice, and classes
will run as scheduled all week
until Spring Break.
cupine Hall residents went
back to their building at 1:45
"After the smoke died down
and the alarms stopped sound
ing, we knew it was safe to let
students into their halls,” Shout
said.
Students are concerned with
meal arrangements now that
Dobbins is inaccessible.
"Dobbins was so close, and
now we have to walk further
for meals. It’s a real inconven
ience,” Bassani said.
Shrout spoke about how stu
dents should respond to the in
cident and the changes
resulting from it.
“I ask that students be patient
in this time of change,” Shout
said. “Let’s show Penn State re
silience and plug through this.”
“They deserve a big thank
you for acting like Penn Staters
and supporting the school.”
cation,” Miller said
“If not, we have to both prepare and serve
food from a different location, creating dif
ferent sets of logistical problems,” Miller
said.
Plans to remain at McGarvey Commons
to serve food are fluid at best.
“This week, Housing and Food Services
will evaluate what it takes to serve food in
that location, then will decide whether to
move it,” Gonda said.
“That decision to move or remain at Mc-
Garvey will be made as we see how well
food service out of that space does,” Gonda
said. One possibility for moving to a new
area could include Erie Hall, he said.
No changes to the current makeshift din
ing hall in McGarvey Commons will be
made this week.
“For this week, meal services are in Mc-
Garvey,” Gonda said. "We are playing this
by ear, day by day.”
It is expected that the Reed Union Build
ing will be much busier, particularly in
Bruno’s, due to the incident.
“There could be an increased level of ac
tivity in Bruno’s,” Gonda said. “We are
working to prepare for that."
Housing and Food Sendees have placed
students at the top of their priority list.
“The food service needs of students will
be taken care of first,” Gonda said.