Dubuque High School - Echo Yearbook (Dubuque, IA)

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As smoke billowed to the sky, firefighters fought to gain control of the blaze to lessen the damage. ir Destroys Material- ut ot Snirits At about 12:00 pm on May 17th fire broke out on Marg Burtrand's roof, a building on the Clarke ollege campus. The fire burned out of control from noon till about 4:30 when fire fighters brought it under control. No one was illed or seriously injured but several firefighters found it necessary to take oxygen due to smoke inhalation. T ree firefighters were taken to the local hospital. Assistant Fire Chief Robert Mehrl said that because of an unluckly coincidence no one reported the blaze at first. There had been roofers working up there, fBurtrands's roofj. Everyone who saw the smoke thought it was em. The alarm was finally. turned in at 1:14 pm and at 1:16, the firefig ters were at the site. By 1:47 the fourth alarm went off to bring in every firefighter in the city. Volunteers came from Jamestown, Asbury, Key Way, and John Deere. As the fire spread across the roof of Mary Burtrand Hall., Rose O'Toole Hall and Margret Mann Hall, the old wood burned faster and the chapel caught on fire as flames shot up to 50 feet until the chapel roof fell at about 3:00 pm. At 4:00 pm, the firefighters organized a human chain of spectators to save some of the 120,000 books in the library. lt finally was brought under control at 4:30 but small spot fires blazed throughtout the night. Firefighters stayed on duty to douse the fires and make sure they didn't become bigger. The halls were between 8 and 105 years old. Margret Mann Hall was built in 187 and housed the visitor information center and counseling center. Rose O'Toole Hall was built in 18 3 and housed some 30 nuns who lost personal possessions. Clarke also lost their administrative offices, student services, music hall and electronic music studio. Mary Bertrand Hall, built in 1904 contained the Chapel of the Sacred Heart, the library contained over 120,000 volumes, a print lab, TV and studio and the skills development center. When the fire broke out, people were shocked at the news. They flocked to Clarke to see for themselves. Po ice had to shut off all the streets surrounding Clarke but still there were more than 200 people gathered to see the fire. President of Clarke, Sr. Catherine Dunn, commented, There are no words to express how I feel. 28-Students and Faculty Unlt Margret Mann Hall, lost most of its top two floors, and water damage was found in the rest of the hall. Two days later graduation was held on schedule for the 13 or so students. Across the street were the burned buildings, grim reminders of the devasting fire. State fire inspectors ruled it started by spontaneous combustion. It was a fluke fire and the chances of it ever happening phenomenal. This, however, is no consolation to Clarke. Damage is expected to run into the millions. lt was the top two floors of the buildings that were burning. The library books received water damage but they were freeze dried to preserve them. lt is estimated up to 80 Bercent of the books can be saved. June aley, Public Relations Director commented on the future. Last week, we all felt just terrible but now we're looking ahead. Many of us still have mixed feelings when we look at what we lost and how lucky we are. We realize we now will have a hand in rebuilding Clarke. Present and future plans are to keep going. The structures of the buildings that were gutted are being inspected but will not have final results until about two months from now. A security system has been set up around the clock to ensure the public's safety. Dale Udelhoffen, a volunteer student, said 'We're hereto keep people away from the buildings. We also keep traffic moving so we have no accidents. All the administrative offices have been moved into the dorms and Mary Jo's hall. The admission records were on computer so none were lost. said Daly, The generousity of the students was wonderful. tudents have stayed to clean up and people have really pulled together. We plan to start summer school on schedule June 4th and fall next year. We lived through this. We're unbreakabIe. To raise money for the nuns who lost their homes and possessions, two benefits were held. KLYV, FIVE FLAGS, and SCORPIO PRODUCTIONS held a dance on May 29th and Paul Hemmer's Dixieland All Stars and WDBQ, with help from the Julien Motor Inn, held a dance on the 30th. Students, faculty, and sight-seers gathered to observe and offer assistance to the sisters who lost all their personal items.

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Watching close for the first to finishg student council members add their cheers for the competitors. The Rationale Band preformed on May 16th for the benefit of Penny Drive. CLAS i975 'ss 30-Penny Drive Week Taking things Into his own hands Mr. Chambers cuts and snlps until his beard is completely gone. Surrounded by on lookers Dan Smith downs six worms with a can of Mountain Dew and helpful cheers from Brian Noonan. Getting carried away with the Penny Drive spirit Doug Christen finds Tim Edwards and Scott Ehlers too much Denn rive to resist.