From The Mercury Archives: Nov. 30, 1992 Fire hits Founders twice; damage unknown

A fire at Founders caused extensive damage but it could have been worse. Founders has no smoke detectors. A cleaning lady spotted smoke on Nov. 20 and called police dispatch from an elevator phone. Police received her call at about 3:09 a.m.

“Had the fire expanded, it would have been vastly more serious,” said David Dunn, dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

After requesting assistance, Officer Guy J. Hooper arrived at Founders at 3:10 a.m. He dashed up to the third floor and saw the center hall filled with brown smoke.

Hooper searched the area for people quickly. Reassured nobody was left on the third floor, he called the police dispatcher and asked the dispatcher to call the Richardson Fire Department.

Meanwhile, Officer Felton, Hugo Can- dler and John Mauzy, from Central Data Acquisition System, evacuated the rest of the building. Hooper jumped in his car and drove out to Lookout Drive and Floyd Road to guide the RFD to Founders.

At 3:16 a.m., sirens wailing, the first fire truck arrived on campus. Because of the possibility that toxic materials may have leaked into the air, RFD immediately asked for more units.

Two pumpers, one snorkel truck and a hazardous material team met at Founders. At first, firefighters couldn’t find the fire. Deputy Fire Chief Brown was “extremely concerned” about the danger his men faced if toxic materials had escaped into the air, police said.

Hooper, Felton and Bill Stancliff, UTD safety officer, were also in Founders with firefighters giving directions where to go.

“There was no unusual hazardous material in the lab,” Dunn said. “But the smell of burning formica is horrible.”

Firefighters found the fire in 3.612 at 4:02 a.m. The fire was so hot it melted water lines in the lab causing extensive water damage through the second and the third floor south hallways, police said.

Four minutes later firefighters shot water at the fire and subsequently put it out. Later, Deputy Fire Marshall Cowart and Deputy Fire Chief Brown ordered Founders secured and sealed. The fire was confined to the lab area at 3.612, Dunn said. The fire walls did the job they were supposed to. A heavy oak door kept the fire confined.

The cause of the fire and its cost are not known yet. But Dean Dunn ventured a guess.

“I’ll give you a rank speculation on the cost of the fire,” Dunn said. “It could be $200,000, but this is based on no hard evidence. And it’s better than a cost of $2 million.”

Exactly 12 hours later, on Saturday, a smoldering two by four reignited the fire. Heavy smoke rose from a utility corridor and inside 3.612. Richardson firefighters tore more of the west wall, got to the source of the smoke and put the fire out. Two UTD guards and two police officers were exposed to the smoke.

Fire marshals were supposed to return to campus last week and investigate the cause of the fire. But Safety Officer Stancliff told campus police that two ovens in the lab may have shorted out and caused the fire.

UNT and UTA got to face each other and we got to face each team. It was a lot of fun.”

During the games, UTD hyped up the crowd with multiple team compositions and meme picks. Cheers of “What is that melody” and high audience engagement kept the room lively. After