Hall of Fire
Students at St Edmund Hall were shocked out of their complacency on Friday, as one of the first year rooms went up in smoke.
The student concerned left a candle burning while away at a lecture, and returned to find the charred remains of her belongings being removed by the fire brigade. They arrived within minutes of being alerted, closing off half of the High Street to gain access to the water hydrant.
The first year modern linguist, who would rather not be named, admitted it was a stupid thing to do but suggested "it could've happen to anyone - I just hope people learn from this because it's really not worth it. Don't burn candles in your room!"
The room was completely gutted, leaving only traces of blackened wallpaper and the remnants of main furnishings such as the bed. Notes for Prelims, books and clothes were all engulfed as students waiting in the courtyard below heard the windows explode shortly after the computer had gone the same way.
Teddy Hall's Head Porter, David Beeching, braved the heat to check that the room was unoccupied, very shortly after a member of the maintenance staff had set off the alarm manually. At first there were concerns from some students that the alarm should have gone off earlier, when witnesses could already see a corridor filled with smoke. These have since been resolved, however, after a thorough check by the fire brigade. Although, in common with all other colleges, the Hall does not have detectors in individual rooms, the corridor sensors were certified as safe the night of the accident, and the college is tightening up on enforcement of its stringent rules in this area. This could include confiscation by scouts of objects deemed to be a fire risk, and regular reports on the tidiness of students' rooms. Failure to comply might result in fines.
A fire drill will be held on Friday morning and the Bursar, also the Fire Officer, and the Head Porter will address the whole college before dinner about the incident.
One witness spoke of being "frightened at running downstairs into a smoking corridor - so often it's just a practice that when it's the real thing it comes as a shock. I didn't think to close my window, not knowing it was the room below on fire."
Electrical wiring in the next-door room was melted, but this seems to have been the only other serious damage. Apart from reparable smoke damage, all other surrounding rooms were largely unaffected due to the strong concrete construction of the building.
JCR President, Alistair Richardson, commented that "it was deeply distressing for all concerned and made us realise how lax and vulnerable we all are as individuals".
9th May 2002