It was a very hectic Thursday for many Adrian College students and staff. In addition to the power outage that affected most, if not all, of us, multiple issues caused by the incident arose.
At approximately 11:40am on Jan. 30, smoke was reported in the lobby of Dawson Auditorium by staff of the music department. Campus Safety responded to the report and evacuated Dawson Auditorium and the attached Spencer Hall. The fire department was called and, after a swift response, started searching the buildings for the source of the smoke.
Power to the building was shut off, and the smoke ceased and started to dissipate. Because of this, it was assumed that the cause of the smoke was one of the motors to the HVAC unit in Dawson Auditorium overheating due to a power surge caused by the power issues on campus.
Adrian Fire Chief Eric Massengill said,
“So, today we were called because there was smoke in the lobby of Dawson Auditorium, and when we got here, there was nothing visible from the outside, but campus security reported that we had a power surge in the area. We checked the roof (There were some workers on the roof) to make sure there was nothing up on the roof that might have caused the smoke, checked through the building, and didn’t find anything. We turned off the power to the building and after that, the smoke dissipated, so we’re assuming that it’s a motor on an HVAC unit, one of the heating units. We get this a lot when there’s power surges because those motors don’t like to have that surge of power, so they overheat. At this point, that’s what we’re assuming happened and at this point in time we’re clearing because we don’t find any dangers.”
The smoke in Dawson had a much broader impact than just in the lobby. Students and staff in Spencer Hall were evacuated from their classrooms and practice rooms, many in confusion.
Senior Steven Posa was one of these students. Steven is a music student at Adrian College and plays the piano. “Everyone was just waiting in the hallway and confused about what to do, and then campus safety told us we had to evacuate because there was smoke coming into the building,” he said about the incident.
It wasn’t all bad, however. The time spent outside offered valuable bonding time for professors and students, which is surely something they won’t forget. Steven had this to say about that: “Everyone went outside and some of the earlier classes were canceled, so a lot of students and professors were gathered around joking and mingling; overall, I’m glad there was no major damage, but it was actually a pleasant experience laughing and being outside.”
All in all, nothing is damaged, and everyone is happy and healthy. The College World would like to thank the Adrian and Madison fire departments for their quick response and Adrian College campus safety for their decisive actions in calling the fire department and evacuating Dawson Auditorium and Spencer Hall.
Stay safe Bulldogs!
