T Behrend Beacon
I\l OTAfC March 2, 2010
X N \_r VV O www.thebehrendbeacon.com
Destruct
CONNOR SATTELV
editor-in-chief
Monday night’s fire in the
Dobbins Dining Hall at Penn
State Behrend may have dam
aged something aside from just
the Gazebo. At the very least,
says Marketing Communica
tions Director William Gonda,
it has certainly pushed back the
renovation plan.
“The west end of the building
is entirely destroyed,” Gonda
said. “It remains to be seen if
the east end is even salvage
able, and if so, what type of ef
fort or repairs would need to be
put into it.”
Gonda said that no college or
university officials have en
tered the structure, so it is pre
mature to tell if the building
will continue with its renova
tion or be entirely demolished
and rebuilt.
“At this point nobody other
than the fire Marshall and the
commanding fire official have
been in the building yet,” he
said. “If the building is salvage
able in some part, then this fire
at least certainly delays the pro
ject’s completion.”
Track team loses its
NICK BLAKE
s porta editor
When Dobbins Dining Hall
went up in flames, the Penn
State Behrend track and field
team lost more than a place to
get a filling meal.
They lost a place to congre
gate and build a stronger team
relationship.
For the track and field team,
Dobbins was a place to get to
gether after practice, fill up on
a high calorie meal and spend
time with fellow teammates.
Now, with Dobbins left com
pletely unusable, the team is
left to find a new hangout spot.
Assistant coach and graduate
Student firefighters gain experience in Gazebo emergency
ERIC PEIRCE
assistant news editor
ALEC ITALIANO
sports editor
Brookside fire department,
manned by several Behrend
students, was one of the first
departments to arrive at the
scene where Dobbins Dining
Hall was slowly becoming en
gulfed in flames.
Student fire fighters junior
Adam Hartwig and his sopho
more roommate Kyle Liebold
were one of the first to arrive at
the scene. They were joined by
fellow sophomore Bill Gorol.
Hartwig, who has been a vol
unteer firefighter for two years,
has never responded to a call
quite like this one.
Most of his other calls were
EMS calls, not major fires such
as the Dobbins fire.
“A call on campus is different
because you have the potential
to take someone into the hospi
tal that you know. It affects you
a little more because you're a
part of it. The only thing differ
ent was the fact that there are
students everywhere,” Hartwig
said.
“When you get to a fire on,
say, a motor vehicle accident,
you're busy going about your
HsMpjk
The fire was seen and re
ported approximately at
this time.
on ofDobb
Gonda says that the first prior
ity is not the renovation or re
pair of the building. Rather,
school officials simply want to
make sure that the building is
safe.
“What we will do now is
Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon
Dobbins was undergoing renovations prior to the fire and will need extensive renovations in the future.
student Phil Stuczynski learned
about the fire shortly after it
started, and everyone’s safety
was his main concern.
“I got a call at about 12:30
a.m.,” said Stuczynski. “I just
wanted to make sure that
everyone was ok.”
Stuczynski addressed that
the loss of Dobbins is a dis
heartening feeling.
“It’s really sad,” said
Stuczynski. “Dobbins is where
everybody goes after practice.”
The track and field team has
not gotten used to the idea that
they will no longer be able to
convene at the dining hall.
“It’s probably not going to hit -
us until after practice,” said
assigned tasks, you're always
aware of your surroundings but
if there's a major significance to
the call you kind of forget it;
you're focused on getting the
job done.”
According to him, this was
one of the quickest structural
fires he had ever seen.
Many problems resulted in
getting the flames controlled
quickly because the fire hy
drants were buried under sev
eral feet of snow.
“At the beginning of the year,
if I had to predict a major fire in
Erie, it would be Behrend be
cause of the number of old
buildings on campus,” said
Hartwig.
Gorol, a seven year volunteer
fireman veteren, quickly re
sponded to the fire mostly
thanks to his girlfriend, who
was one of the first Behrend
students to witness the flames
at Dobbins.
“I didn't even realize there
were no sprinkler systems in
Dobins, and was probably one
of the reasons that it went up in
flames pretty quick,” Gorol
said.
“The roof was rocking pretty
good when we got there, and
we had no water for twenty
minutes.”
Having this fire under control
IfcMuh
The Brookside Fire De
partment arrived first
on the scene.
UUMmjm.
Students were evacuated
from both Lawrence and
Porcupine Halls.
ns'effect on 2010 renovations
make sure the area is secure
and safe,” he said. “We want to
take care of any dangers. There
are so many people passing
through the area, we need to
secure the site.”
Gonda stressed that there is
no indication that the building
after-practice dining spot
senior Vinnie Krawiec. “I’m
sure somebody will slip up after
practice and say, ‘let’s go to
Dobbins’.”
For right now, the makeshift
dining hall set up in McGarvey
Commons will have to do.
“I guess McGarvey is sound
ing ok,” said Krawiec. “I guess
we can always go to Bruno’s.”
Even though a place to hang
out was a major benefit of Dob
bins, the food served there was
a very important thing for the
track and field members.
“The amount of food we
could get there was really im
portant,” said freshijian David
Suhai*.- '*• »
in under an hour was pretty
outstanding, compared to the
usual three hours on a normal
house fire.
Brookside fire department
was on the scene, along side
five other departments, within
minutes of the call, and led to
the quick containment of the
fire.
Firefighters knew the Gazebo
was a complete loss as soon as
they arrived on the scene, and
fighters quickly mobilized to
keeping the fire to spreading to
near by Lawrence and Porcu
pine Hall.
Sophomore Liebold has only
been a volunteer firefighter for
a year, but quickly gained expe
rience on this campus call.
Brookside fire depertment
rarely responds to structural
fires this big; a house fire a
month is the usual response
call for Brookside.
“It was different, with other
structure fires, there are usu
ally only six or seven people
watching,” Liebold said. “It felt
really different as an entire
campus watched you work.”
These were just a few of the
many student volunteer fire
fighters on the scene and
should be commemorated for
their dedicated work.
12*15 ÜB.
Students evacuated from
Porcupine Hall were
moved to Tiffany Hall,
among other locations.
12*15
Students evacuated from
Lawrence Hall were
moved to Niagara Hall.
“As athletes, we have to con-
12*45 «.■.
The fire was under
control and had mostly
dissipated.
will collapse, but the fire Mar
shall has yet to determine
whether the structure is en
tirely secure. That conclusion
may not come for several days.
The renovation project was
planned to accomplish two
goals: expand food options in
sume large amounts of food
and a lot more calories than
most people. We got that at
Dobbins.”
Although Bruno’s is an alter
native for a meal, it is not ideal
for athletes.
“Bruno’s is not as good, be
cause a lot of the food made
there is fried,” said Suhan. “At
Dobbins we could get the foods
that aren’t fried.”
Head coach Greg Cooper
stressed the importance of eat
ing all meals, even if dining
areas are busy.
“We are encouraging the
team to be smart, and to not
skip any meals just because
there’s a long line,” said
Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon
Bill Gorol, sophomore, gained experience assisting the Brookside Fire Department in putting out the fire.
itseu.
Evacuated students were
let back into Porcupine
Hall, according to Kelly
Shrout.
IdOuL
The fire was completely dis
tinguished.
the dining hall and make better
use of the space already there.
An addition on the upper side
of the building was planned,
but is now pushed back indefi
nitely because a large amount
of structural damage has oc
curred right at the place where
the addition would have con
nected.
Additions to food services,
according to the original plans
of the renovation, would add a
“Caribbean” section, a “home
style” cooking section, an addi
tional grill section, expanded
Wok station, and a different
salad bar. The renovation also
planned for a new roof, new
utilities, a new elevator, and
kitchen equipment to be added
to the building. Also on the
docket was a special events
dining room and a catering of
fice, which would add to the
building’s usefulness and ver
satility.
The stairwells, which Direc
tor of Housing and Food Serv
ices Randy Geering last year
called “disgusting," were also
on the list of areas to renovate.
Cooper.
Cooper is also pleased with
the outstanding response by
the Housing and Food Service.
“It’s crazy, this is something
you really can’t plan for,” said
Cooper.
“I think the Housing and
Food Services did a great job in
getting something set up in Mc-
Garvey.”
As far as the team having a
place to hangout is concerned,
it is just a waiting game.
“We’re just playing it by ear,”
said Cooper.
“There’s not another large lo
cation that’s not in use right
now, so \we’U just have to see.”
IMul
Evacuated students were
let back into Lawrence
Hall, according to Kelly
Shrout.
Fires have
history at
Behrend
Feb. 13, 1975 - Lawrence
Hall residents did not believe a
real fire was occurring. How
ever, a false alarm days earlier
faked residents into believing
another prank was taking place
when pandemonium struck
with black smoke filling the
Lawrence Hall hallways. The
source of the smoke was found
to be a smoke-bomb that set off
fire alarms.
Feb. 20, 1975 - Perry Hall
night Assistant Bob Lowry was
alerted by a female student that
she believed a fire had started
inside of the building. The fire
started in a trash can near in
the women’s first floor laundry
room. Rick Shrout and Mike
Kahl evacuated Perry Hall
while Lowry extinguished the
fire.
Apr. 21, 1977 - Student John
Skoff reported and sparked the
extinguishing mission of a fire
near Devils Backbone in the
Wintergreen Gorge. Skoff in
formed campus Safety and Se
curity while the Brookside Fire
Department reported to the
scene. Student volunteers, 14
exactly, got the fire under con
trol before the Brookside Fire
Department arrived.
Feb. 25, 1982 - Perry Hall’s
second-floor T.V. lounge was
destroyed after a fire was
sparked in the room. The entire
building evacuated in minutes,
but smoke inside the building
left it inaccessible for students.
The fire was caused by a smol
dering cigarette.
Sept. 29, 1988 - A garbage
can fire at 2:03 a.m. in the base
ment of Niagara Hall evacuated
students from the building. The
fire was put out, but it was
never determined wb,o
the fire: - - • - v '
In a matter of
three short hours,
the Gazebo at
Dobbins was
SHAWN ANNARELLI
managing editor