Photo: JSU Transitional Resident
Cameron Adams
Editor-In-Chief
Early Saturday morning, on Feb. 4, 2023, Transitional Residence Hall students were forced to evacuate after a fire broke out in one of the resident rooms.
This comes as the final accommodations have been made for the students affected by mold in University Pointe. Now more students are now in need of extra assistance.
Despite the fire, the President of Student Affairs, Francee Brown-McClure, Ph.D., released a statement assuring that all students were able to clear the building before any harm could be done.
The statement read:
“Jackson State University and Jackson Fire Department responded to a fire alarm and sprinkler system activation in Transitional Hall early Saturday morning. All students were evacuated safely and relocated to the Athletics and Assembly Center.
While some students were able to return to their rooms after an all-clear was issued, a total of 39 students were relocated to other rooms to allow for water clean-up. We are working with the Division of Institutional Advancement to provide assistance to students whose items were damaged.”
Although Jackson State has been heavily criticized because of residential issues within the residence halls, the university was not responsible for the fire.
Arriana Peters, a freshman business administration major from San Diego, Calif., claims that she was down the hall from the room where the fire was located.
“From what I heard, a space heater is what caused the fire, which is something we’re not even supposed to have on campus,” said Peters.
Peters explained that the heater fell to the floor causing the fire.
She also stated that she was asleep during the evacuation process and was not aware that the emergency was occurring. Peters claimed that her roommate was responsible officials going back to check the rooms.
“They were telling my roommate that they’ve already checked the floors and that I wasn’t up there,” stated Peters. Despite the certainty of the officials, Peters’ roommate remained persistent about going to check on her.
“When my roommate wasn’t going for it, they got her keys to come get me,” said Peters.
Peters also claimed that when the officials came to get her to evacuate the building, she passed several marks indicating that the building was already checked.
Despite her delayed evacuation, Peters walked away from the situation unharmed, thanks to the teamwork of her roommate and the Jackson Fire Department.
Peters’ roommate was not the only student who took the initiative to help evacuate the building.
Saniya Willis, a freshman criminal justice major from Detroit, Mich., stated that she overheard someone calling for help as they passed Transitional Hall.
“I was leaving Dixon with my friends and one of my friends actually overheard someone calling for help from outside the window,” stated Willis. “We were the only people that heard so of course we started telling everyone else around that it was a real fire.”
Willis claimed that she and the friend she was with at the time, split up to alert everyone around them. While her friend went to find officers on campus who could help, Willis went inside the building to alert people.
After telling other residents to spread the word about the fire, Willis then began to make her way to campus police.
“I was on my way walking back to Dixon to get the police, but by the time I was there they were already on the way,” said Dixon.
Willis explained that other students from different dorms began to make their way to Transitional to see what was going on. The students gathered around the building watching as black smoke and water filled their view.
Transitional residents were forced to spend the remainder of the night at the Lee E. Williams Athletics & Assembly Center. Willis shared that later that night, students got a notification that the third and fourth floors of the building were safe.
“Then we heard the first and second floor were completely damaged. I took that as ‘If your stuff was in there, you have to figure something out,’” stated Willis.
Willis added: “We then found out that only the left side of the building was damaged. My room was fine, it just smelled like mildew.”
Campus residential students are given a list of items prohibited, including space heaters, in the housing policy and the Student Handbook.
Although the incident was a huge inconvenience for the students who were affected, there is a positive in the situation: All students were able to walk away with no injuries or severe trauma.
