Inside: A view of Flattops: Signs of Seminar hits Col- Moore again named 1987 through the the times? lege Church All-American eyes of the Bison. Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 H. U. Review 1987 Harding University Searcy, Ark. 72143 Volume 2 Damage minimal following fire By Shawn Goodpasture Bison staff writer The fire at the co-generation plant on Saturday night, despite causmg a great deal of unusual excitement, turned out to be an attic fire that resulted in only very minor damage. University President Clifton L. Ganus said that there was $1,200 of damage, most of it burned styrofoam insulation and wires. The generating equipment was left mostly untouched, except for the smoke and water damage. Also, large holes in the attic roof were made by Searcy Fire Department crew members in order to get to the source of the fire. Ganus said that clean-up began almost immediately after firemen finished putting out the flames. Cleanup continued on Sunday and by Monday, roof repairs were underway. It will be later, however, before a new, flameproof insulation is installed. The stacks of insualtion outside the plant will not be installed. Ganus said while watching the fire on Saturday night that "we're lucky it wasn't worse...just a couple hours of inconvenience.'' It is suspected that a welding torch left by a construction crew working earlier in the day on an exhaust pipe in the attic caused the fire. Earlier, an attic extension cord was blamed. The flames were first seen at the east end of the building at about 8 p.m. by a worker stepping outside the building, said engineer Stan Pearson. Sophomore Angie Crain said she and senior Cheryl Easley passed the plant on their way to the BisonArkansas college basketball game and heard some popping noises. ''We came around the building and the window (on the southeast corner) was bright orange,'' Crain said. ''We ran down the sidewalk to Keller because we thought it was going to blow up.'' Power was shut olf at 8:05 p.m. The Searcy Fire Department answered 46 H.U. Review Searcy fire1!1en battle a blaze that occurred Saturday, December 6, at the university's Co-generation Plant. Despite causing considerable excitement the incident caused only $1,200 in damages. (photo by Michael Rodgers) the call at 8:12, with three engines at the scene three minutes later. By the time they arrived, however, most of the flames had died down, although the attic was still smoldering. Police blocked off the section of East Park Avenue that is routed near the campus. Keller and Pattie Cobb dormitories were evacuated as a precautionary measure. Many of the crowd of about 300 watching the fire fighters battling the blaze came from the basketball game at the New Gym. The Bisons were ahead 18-9, with 11: 25 remaining in the first half. Freshman Steven Alexander said that the lights went off and came back on and flickered before going off for good. Those there said students, accustomed to power outages, cheered when the blackout came, waiting for the power to come on shortly. It took a few minutes to realize what was actually happening. Ganus said he noticed something was wrong when he saw flames coming from the plant, and fire trucks arriving, with sirens on. Fire fighters got to the fire by entering through the door on the building's east side and chopping their way through the attic roof. There was some panic when the crowd was ordered to evacuate the immediate area after a gas leak in one of the lines leading to the plant was discovered. The fears, however, proved to be unfounded. After two hours, much of the crowd had left, finding ways to occupy their time until full power was restored. Keller and Pattie Cobb were reopened by 10 p.m. The crew left campus at 10:37, according to a department report. Camera crews from all three Little Rock commercial network affiliated stations were on the scene, and the fire received major attention on the late Saturday newscasts. Rumors, however, spread quickly around Arkansas. Ganus said that when he was preaching in Memphis, Tenn. on Sunday, he talked to some who had heard that "we didn't know how many were killed and that we had to evacuate the campus." Ironically, Harding had taken ownership of the plant about a month before the fire. Under the agreement, Co-Generation Power of Searcy was to be a wholly-owned operation of the University, Ganus said before the fire that some details relating to the takeover needed to be worked out.
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