DSU RA puts out fire ASAP

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Dickinson State University resident advisor Alex Gates is credited with preventing a tenant’s stove-top fire from spreading into an apartment building. No one was injured in the Thursday incident.

The grease fire started at about 9:45 a.m. in a lower level apartment of the Altringer Apartment complex on 11th Avenue West. The building, which is a residence for Dickinson State University students, is adjacent to campus.

“The tenant was making some breakfast and stepped away just briefly — that’s all it took,” Dickinson Fire Department Chief Bob Sivak said. “The contents of the pan and the cabinets above the stove started burning.”

Gates, who is a DSU senior from Prosser, Wash., was in her apartment when she heard the smoke alarm go off.

“I checked on it and the hallway was full of smoke,” Gates said. “The resident said there’s a fire in her apartment. The fire extinguisher is on the wall beside my apartment. I grabbed it and put it out.”

Gates credits her training to a DFD class on how to use a fire extinguisher.

“I’m glad I was there to help,” she said.

In responding to the fire, Gates also called the DFD.

“She successfully used a fire extinguisher to knock the fire down,” Sivak said. “We used a line to cool some of the fire damage in the interior and we used fans to ventilate the smoke from the building, but it was the resident assistant who stopped the fire from getting bigger — she did a great job.”

The fire was contained to one apartment room, with smoke damage on the lower level. Students residing in the damaged room have been reassigned to other living accommodations.

Vice President for Student Development Hal Haynes credited Gates’ quick actions for helping keep something small that could have turned into something much larger.

“We are very grateful for the paraprofessional student staff member who first tried to extinguish the fire and as always, to the Dickinson Police and Fire departments for their quick response to the call,” he said.

The cost of damage is undetermined.

Tags: dickinson state university, resident advisor, news, fire