Suttle Hall residents waited in an early Tuesday morning mist as the Starkville Fire Department arrived to check on a burning smell from the hall’s top floors.
A student reported a smoke smell to the ninth floor resident assistant between 1:30 and 2 a.m.
Residence director Gavin Roarck, the resident assistant on duty and the Campus Police investigated the eighth and ninth floor elevator lobby, Roarck said.
Roarck did not want to take any unnecessary chances, he said, and he called the fire department after pulling the fire alarm.
The Fire Department responded quickly. “They were there before I got outside,” Suttle resident James Dick said.
“From my experience in housing, I was impressed with the Fire Department’s response to the situation,” Roarck added.
Maintenance and Facilities assistant director Fred Mock said the Fire Department deemed a burned-out heater motor in the elevator lobby as the source of the smell.
The early morning evacuation surprised residents.
“I was asleep when the alarm went off,” resident Chad Hathcock said. “It was cold, and mist was everywhere.”
Roarck said the residents stood outside for 30 minutes before the fire department secured the building.
Suttle will be closed in summer 2006, demolished and replaced with a new residence hall.
“It has outlived its usefulness,” housing and resident life director Ann Bailey said.