Many Oak Hall residents will be able to return to their respective dorm rooms this weekend, Mississippi State University announced Monday, but about 30 double-occupancy rooms will require extensive repairs that could displace students for about a month.
Yesterday, MSU released more details into a Sunday fire that sent firefighters scrambling to the 2-year-old structure. A candle left burning in a third-floor residence ignited a couch and scorched a wall.
Besides smoke and fire damage, the structure’s fire suppression water sprinkler operated for an extended amount of time, which caused extensive water damage to a portion of the building, MSU Chief Communications Officer Sid Salter said.
No injuries were reported from the fire.
Officials first said up to 200 female residents from the co-ed dorm would be displaced after Sunday’s fire, but the university reduced that figure down Monday. Only one of Oak Hall’s two wings was affected, MSU announced in a release, and the students living on the undamaged fourth floor chose to remain in their rooms after an all-clear signal was given by fire officials.
The university secured rooms at La Quinta Inn for affected students and added the hotel to its campus shuttle system. Approximately 73 women spent the night at the hotel, 64 slept at other off-campus locations and two utilized Butler Guest House.
Officials, including MSU President Mark Keenum, gave students in-person updates Sunday and Monday.
MSU will work to fit displaced students within vacancies of its own housing department, but those students also have the option of terminating campus housing contracts and moving to off-campus apartments or an on-campus sorority house.
In a release, Bill Broyles, interim vice president for student affairs, said MSU’s housing system has enough open space to take in those who wish to live on campus.
“We are trying to accommodate these students who are being inconvenienced through no fault of their own, and we have come up with three options that we believe will meet the variety of student needs and preferences,” he said in the release.
An Oak Hall fire alarm went off about 8 p.m., Salter told the Dispatch Sunday, and first responders arrived on scene no later than 8:07 p.m.
Candle burning is a violation of MSU’s housing policy.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.