(no subject)
Apr. 23rd, 2003 01:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grinninfooleHeader from the BBC: "The WHO advises against travel to Toronto, Beijing and China's Shanxi province amid growing concern about the spread of the deadly virus."
Is it just me, or is this beginning to look like a serious, long-term problem?
Oh, and exciting things right here in River City! (Well, at the university just next door.)
By KAY MORAN, Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 23, 2003 -- AMHERST - A century-old building used for art classes at the University of Massachusetts was destroyed Tuesday night by a fire visible from several miles away.
Though a class there had let out at 4:15 p.m., no one was
believed to be inside at 8 p.m., when a student walking past
spotted flames through a window and called 911. No injuries were
reported during firefighting operations, and UMass police called
every student and faculty member with ties to the building to
make sure they were all accounted for.
The two-story building, known as the "foundry," was too unstable
for Trooper Frank Hart and UMass police and Amherst Fire
Department investigators to enter during the night. They will
return this morning to begin their investigation into the fire's
cause, said Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for the state Fire
Marshal's office.
Ironically, the Fire Prevention Association of Massachusetts is in
the midst of its three-day annual convention at UMass, Mieth said.
The building was used by the Department of Art and Art History
for welding and bronze casting, said Ronald Michaud, chairman of
the department.
The building is directly across Stockbridge Road from Morrill
Science Center. It was "a concern because of its age," said UMass
spokeswoman Barbara Pitoniak.
When the first firefighters arrived at 8:04 p.m., flames were
already shooting high above the roof and the building was too
unstable to enter, said Amherst Assistant Fire Chief Michael
Zlogar. Firefighters surrounded the building with fire trucks and
sprayed water for nearly two hours, until most of the fire was out.
Standing behind hastily strung police tapes, groups of students
watched and described the scene to others on cell phones.
Brian Fusonie said he had just finished taking a test in Morrill
when he glanced out a window and found himself looking straight
into the blaze. "It lit up the whole area," he said. After something
exploded inside the foundry, a teaching assistant told him and
others in the Morrill room to get away from the windows.
The two explosions were believed to be tanks of acetylene and
oxygen stored in the building for use in welding, Zlogar said. He
did not know Tuesday night how many tanks remained inside, but
said firefighters had protected a large propane tank outside from
exposure to flames.
At about 8:40 p.m. a solemn-looking Chancellor John Lombardi, whose house is only a short distance uphill, walked down to the fire scene. He said he had been on the other side of his home from the blaze and had only just become aware of it. He referred all questions to Pitoniak.
The roof of the wood-frame building collapsed, as did most of the upper floor. For safety reasons, electricity was cut off to the building as well as nearby Marshall and Skinner halls during firefighting operations, investigation and cleanup.
About 50 firefighters from the Amherst permanent, call and student forces were at the scene, assisted by firefighters from the Northampton, Hadley and Belchertown fire departments.
Lack of adequate art studio space, an issue for many years, worsened in March 2000 when a state building inspector closed as unsafe the graduate painting studios on the third floor of Clark Hall. [for details, see a story Millari wrote about it for the Gazette. :)]
Michaud, the art department chairman, was meeting with staff and faculty this morning to discuss where to hold the class that had met in the foundry, and to begin addressing what to do about student projects, equipment and studio space lost to the fire.
Kay Moran can be reached at kmoran@gazettenet.com.
Is it just me, or is this beginning to look like a serious, long-term problem?
Oh, and exciting things right here in River City! (Well, at the university just next door.)
By KAY MORAN, Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 23, 2003 -- AMHERST - A century-old building used for art classes at the University of Massachusetts was destroyed Tuesday night by a fire visible from several miles away.
Though a class there had let out at 4:15 p.m., no one was
believed to be inside at 8 p.m., when a student walking past
spotted flames through a window and called 911. No injuries were
reported during firefighting operations, and UMass police called
every student and faculty member with ties to the building to
make sure they were all accounted for.
The two-story building, known as the "foundry," was too unstable
for Trooper Frank Hart and UMass police and Amherst Fire
Department investigators to enter during the night. They will
return this morning to begin their investigation into the fire's
cause, said Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for the state Fire
Marshal's office.
Ironically, the Fire Prevention Association of Massachusetts is in
the midst of its three-day annual convention at UMass, Mieth said.
The building was used by the Department of Art and Art History
for welding and bronze casting, said Ronald Michaud, chairman of
the department.
The building is directly across Stockbridge Road from Morrill
Science Center. It was "a concern because of its age," said UMass
spokeswoman Barbara Pitoniak.
When the first firefighters arrived at 8:04 p.m., flames were
already shooting high above the roof and the building was too
unstable to enter, said Amherst Assistant Fire Chief Michael
Zlogar. Firefighters surrounded the building with fire trucks and
sprayed water for nearly two hours, until most of the fire was out.
Standing behind hastily strung police tapes, groups of students
watched and described the scene to others on cell phones.
Brian Fusonie said he had just finished taking a test in Morrill
when he glanced out a window and found himself looking straight
into the blaze. "It lit up the whole area," he said. After something
exploded inside the foundry, a teaching assistant told him and
others in the Morrill room to get away from the windows.
The two explosions were believed to be tanks of acetylene and
oxygen stored in the building for use in welding, Zlogar said. He
did not know Tuesday night how many tanks remained inside, but
said firefighters had protected a large propane tank outside from
exposure to flames.
At about 8:40 p.m. a solemn-looking Chancellor John Lombardi, whose house is only a short distance uphill, walked down to the fire scene. He said he had been on the other side of his home from the blaze and had only just become aware of it. He referred all questions to Pitoniak.
The roof of the wood-frame building collapsed, as did most of the upper floor. For safety reasons, electricity was cut off to the building as well as nearby Marshall and Skinner halls during firefighting operations, investigation and cleanup.
About 50 firefighters from the Amherst permanent, call and student forces were at the scene, assisted by firefighters from the Northampton, Hadley and Belchertown fire departments.
Lack of adequate art studio space, an issue for many years, worsened in March 2000 when a state building inspector closed as unsafe the graduate painting studios on the third floor of Clark Hall. [for details, see a story Millari wrote about it for the Gazette. :)]
Michaud, the art department chairman, was meeting with staff and faculty this morning to discuss where to hold the class that had met in the foundry, and to begin addressing what to do about student projects, equipment and studio space lost to the fire.
Kay Moran can be reached at kmoran@gazettenet.com.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-04-23 10:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-23 11:27 am (UTC)Ditzy? No.
Date: 2003-04-23 09:40 pm (UTC)-Lefty
no subject
Date: 2003-04-24 10:25 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-04-24 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject