Lightbulb causes fire in Lyons
By TIM LOGAN
News Editor
A small fire caused by a light bulb prompted an evacuation of Lyons Hall Tuesday evening.
No one was hurt by the fire. It caused minimal damage, mostly to the clothes in the closet where it started.
The fire was reported at 7:35 p.m. after some towels in a first-floor room's closet caught fire from the heat of a light bulb directly overhead. It spread through the closet and may have caused damage in the room above.
Fire personnel arrived at the scene within a few minutes and put out the flames shortly thereafter. The hall was evacuated until 8:25 p.m. while firemen investigated the scene and cleaned up.
Hall staff discovered the blaze when they noticed smoke in the hallway outside the room.
Fire alarms did not go off right away, according to Lyons rector Sister Kathleen Beatty, but the smoke was so heavy it was obvious there was a fire.
"We went into the room and you could taste it," she said.
Dorm officials pulled the fire alarm when smoke detectors did not sound. Lyons hall staff called Notre Dame Security/Police and began evacuating residents. Other women found out when they smelled smoke or heard people evacuating.
"My roommate walked in and said `There's smoke, we have to get out,'" said junior Liza Naticchia.
Sunday morning there was another small fire caused by a light bulb in Lyons. The room alarm did not go off in that fire either, according to Beatty, although there was not as much smoke as in Tuesday's fire.
"I think it's ironic that twice in the past week we've had two fires and the alarm hasn't gone off," said sophomore Mary-Claire Jarvis.
Beatty said that University electricians would be checking the fire alarms in the hall today. Each room has an alarm, and there are alarms in the hallways.
Christine Kraly contributed to this report.
All News Stories for Wednesday, November 17, 1999
