University of Nevada Las Vegas - Epilogue Yearbook (Las Vegas, NV)

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Dedicated to Student Government SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES uNothing exciting ever happens on this campus. - It's a familiar quote, have you said it? Many students were thinking this during the abruptly ended CSUN Forum last Wednesday before Student Government offices went up in flames. On the third floor, in the secretar- iest offices, Jeanne Hall was busily typing the agenda for this weeks Senate Meeting. Smelling something foul in the air prompted her to investi- gate the source. She rushed into President Levine's office, discovered that the curtains and the carpet near the outer door were on fire. Out of control, the flames were too much for her to handle alone. Jeanne ran out the door and yelled over the rail to the second floor for help. Bill Dennie, a maintenance i man, rushed up and broke the glass on the fire box. He grabbed the hose and together he and Jeanne tried to fight the blaze. The smoke from the fire, blowing out into the Union proper, caught the attention of several students who took it upon themselves to pull the fire alarm. Pete Calas, Curt Winslow, and Dean Montgomery were up immedi- ately helping the duo to fight the fire. At first no one moved e just an- other false fire alarm. And down in the first floor TV lounge, students who had gathered to rap with CSUN officers just continued to rap. Jeff Margolin, CSUN VP was on the Pub- lic Address System trying to gather people to come to the forum as they were rushing out to safety. Wherets everyone going?', He yelled. it took everyone a few seconds to come t the realization that there actually wa- a fire. But within'five minutes Donal C. Moyer Campus Student Union wa empty. On to the scene came the firemen Up their ladders they carried Scot Packs and hoses to fight the flames Within two hours all but the clean-u- was over. The only casualties were six Clar County firemen who suffered fro the acrid fumes and smoke. The were Captain .Jim Barret, Captai Butch Snider, Ed Sollie, Bob Warn Ed Stephen and Carl Murray. At about 4 pm firemen told Dr. K Dean Black, Union Director, that h- could reenter the building. Black an other authorized personnel entered t assess the damages. On the firs t Enema m2 38

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Ioor everything was black from moke. Up on the second floor, ounges suffered from broken glass nd everything had a deeper grey mokey look. The third floor was oretty bad. President Levine no onger had an office. The only wood oaneling left on the wall was that hich was behind the burnt gavel laques. Her secretaries' office re- eived a crisp ceiling, a burnt l'senti- . ental ballot box and extensive moke and water damages. The of- fice of Public Information on the Envi- ronment tPlEt suffered only from smoke pollution. Moving around the corner, the Publications Offices were washed out. The ceiling was burned and de- stroyed. All over everything were pieces of charred wet ceiling. According to the fire insurance in- vestigators, the damages are esti- mated at $20,000. Black though said, I think they may be a little low, after they figure in the cost of some of the furniture which we lost. The fire was described as a typi- cal office fire - cause unknown. Plans to rebuild the third floor are being handled by the Student Union Board which met last Friday. Accord- ing to Black, Reconstruction should only take about two weeks. Temporarily Student Government offices will be located in the second floor Fireside Lounge. Phone mes- sages will be taken on 739-3221 or campus extension 221. PIE has moved to the chemistry Building. Publications, the YELL and the EP- lLOGUE have been moved to the sixth floor of Tonopah Hail tdormt lounge. Their telephone numbers will remain 739-3477 and 739-3478 tuni- versity extensions 477 and 478;