Markley room damaged in fire By David Enders Daily Staff Reporter A fire on the sixth floor of Mary Markley Residence Hall on Friday night forced the evacuation of the entire building and caused extensive damage to one room in Blagdon House. University Facilities and Operations spokesperson Diane Brown said no one reported injuries as a result of the Markley fire. All residents, except those of sixth floor Blagdon House, were allowed to return to their rooms at 11 p.m., about 35 minutes after the alarm was pulled. "The fire has been attributed to some kind of electrical situation," Brown said. Ann Arbor Fire Department officials on the scene said the blaze spread quickly after a mattress and some furniture ignited, but the blaze was contained to the room where it began. Many students were initially skeptical of the evacuation, but thick black smoke pouring out of a sixth-floor window alerted them to the seriousness of the situation. "I thought some jerk pulled a false alarm," said Kendra Byrne, an LSA first-year student who lives in Markley, as she stood outside. Due to the cold weather conditions, the evacuated residents were allowed into the School of Public Health Building II, Alice Lloyd and Couzens residence halls while the fire was being contained. A fire at Seton Hall University last Wednesday left three students dead and five hospitalized. Like Markley, Boland Residence Hall, where the fire began, does not have a sprinkler system. Many Boland Hall residents were slow to leave their rooms because they assumed the alarm was a continuation of a string of prank alarms. Seton Hall reported having 18 false alarms in Boland Hall since Sept. 1, 1999, Seton Hall officials said in a written statement. "We have a very low incidence of false alarms" at the University, Brown said. "For the calendar year of 1999, there were 17 false alarms recorded for the entire residence hall system." Brown attributes the University's small number of false alarms to two reasons. "First, we have a mandatory evacuation procedure, and second, the pull stops are covered," she said, referring to the fire alarms which are protected by breakable glass to prevent accidental alarms. The mandatory evacuation procedure allows the University to penalize students who do not leave their rooms, regardless of whether the alarm is false. Brown said that the penalties for students who do not leave their rooms, regardless of whether the alarm is false. Brown said that the penalties for students who do not evacuate vary. "Upon an incident report being filed, the housing judiciary council's sanctions are determined by the individual's situation," Brown said. One possible penalty is a $50 fine. Brown could not comment on the frequency with which penalties are given. Brown also said that sprinkler systems, although not mandatory, have been installed in strategic locations in some residence halls, such as food service and laundry areas. In the wake of the Seton Hall fire, University of Michigan interim Vice President of Student Affairs E. Royster Harper said Friday afternoon that the University has "really been working aggressively to make sure safety issues are up to speed," and pointed out that sprinklers were installed on the eighth and ninth floors of South Quad Residence Hall during 1994 renovations. Friday's fire at Markley caused smoke damage and "extensive damage to personal belongings" in the room where the fire began, Brown said, and "too much damage" to allow the room's two female residents to return for anything but the removal of undamaged belongings. Students at Seton Hall will be allowed to return to Boland Hall today, according to written statements from Seton Hall University. The cause of the fire there has not been determined. Heidelberg College in Ohio also suffered a residence hall fire Saturday morning. The blaze gutted the third floor of Willard Residence Hall, but no one was injured. The cause of that fire also remains undetermined, and students have not been allowed to return to the residence hall. Originally on page 1A in the 1-24-2000 issue of the Daily.