A small fire broke out in a student's room on the fifth floor of Witherspoon Hall shortly before 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 18.
The Princeton Fire Department was called and the blaze quickly contained. Students living in Witherspoon were forced to evacuate the building for more than an hour. No one was seriously injured.
The room where the fire started, in which Kelly Sortino '03 lives, suffered significant smoke damage, and many ofSortino's belongings were destroyed, according to Public Safety Crime Prevention Specialist Barry Weiser.
The room directly below Sortino's suffered some water damage as well, Weiser added. Sortino was treated for minor injuries at McCosh Health Center and released. According to Weiser, the fire in room 512 was caused by damaged wiring in a hair dryer.
Authorities said Sortino called 911 at about 1:45 p.m. and then promptly left the room and shut the door. Firemen were on the scene in minutes, as were Public Safety officials, Borough Police and multiple ambulances. According to Weiser, firefighters walked from room to room to make sure that students had evacuated safely.
"Our emergency operator received the call at 1:52 p.m. and we had our first truck actually on the road within the minute," explained Fire Department Chief Henry Tamasi. When the trucks arrived, smoke was coming out of windows on the east side of the building.
Firefighters climbed the ladder and used a fire-axe to break the room windows. Inside they broke down the door and extinguished the flames. From start to finish the process took less than 15 minutes.
According to Tamasi, Public Safety officers felt Sortino's door, which was very hot and decided to evacuate the building.
Approximately 80 people were evacuated in all. Firefighters moved in and controlled the blaze. "Public Safety was very cooperative and successful getting everybody out," Tamasi said. "It was really just a great job on everybody's part."
According to Public Safety Director Jerrold Witsil, initial reports of injury and damage were overblown. Media attention given to the event included a television news helicopter and extensive press coverage.
Though Witherspoon was first occupied in 1877, authorities stress that the fire had nothing to do with the dormitory's age or wiring. Tamasi said Witherspoon meets all fire safety regulations.
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