By Konnor Newton, Student Journalist
Hart hall was evacuated at approximately 8:30pm Tuesday night, when a trash can was found emitting smoke on the 7th floor. The fire alarms were set off and students fled the building. Zachary Madore, a resident on the floor says “I came out of my room to see what was going on, sure enough the was a bunch of smoke rolling right across the ceiling, coming from that trash barrel. I went over and the was clearly a fire smoldering in the center of it.” Madore attempted to extinguish the fire with water from his room before evacuating with the rest of the residents. The fire department arrived on the scene and the fire was contained to the trash can and extinguished The fire appears to be suspicious and is now under investigation by the Bangor fire marshall.
The potential arson coming just a couple weeks after a vandalism spree earlier last month. Which occurred in the stairwell connecting the 1st, 4th and 7th floors of Hart hall as well as on the floors themselves. Exit signs and emergency lights were torn apart, smashed and stolen multiple times over the course of about a week and a half. As a result, every resident living on each of the three floors were billed $12 in order to replace the emergency equipment. Many students were outraged by this fee claiming that the school had no way of identifying a suspect and that it was unfair to hold everyone accountable for the incident regardless of involvement. However, according to Spencer McBreairty, the Residential Director of Hart hall; The cost to replace this equipment is no minor expense. Costing between $300-$700, depending on the device. “I’m not happy about paying it, but I understand where they’re coming from. I mean why should the school have to front the bill for something a resident did? Then again, why should I? I just hope whoever did it, is done.” Says Jason Knightly a resident in Hart hall. The mass fines may have deterred the vandals because there had been no destruction of property incidents up until Tuesday nights fire. At this point in time there is no connection between the vandalism and the burning trash barrel.
Hunter Clark a second year Residential Assistant in Hart hall says that this behaviour, though extreme tends to become more common this time of year. Explaining that, “cabin fever” tends to get to the more rambunctious students, and while these cases are completely unacceptable, they do not correlate to residents looking to cause any harm to others.
If you have any information on any sort of vandalism on campus contact security at:
(207) 941-7000
