A resident assistant stood in blinding smoke and extinguished a kitchen fire in McKee Hall late Monday afternoon.
C.C. Cook, the resident assistant on duty in the basement, rushed to the third-floor kitchen after two students ran downstairs and told her the kitchen was on fire.
“I ran up and saw a fire and panicked a little bit,” Cook said. “It was very dark-almost pitch black-from smoke.”
Cook immediately found a fire extinguisher and put out the fire.
“I couldn’t see the fire extinguisher in the kitchen from all the smoke, so I ran and got the nearest one I could find,” Cook said. “I went back to the kitchen and stood at the door and sprayed the fire extinguisher until I couldn’t see anymore.”
Cook said she stayed around several more minutes to make sure the fire had been completely put out.
After the fire had been extinguished Cook said she was still having problems breathing from all the smoke she inhaled. She also said campus police arrived at McKee very quickly after the start of the fire.
David Gaudin, captain of Starkville Fire Department, said the fire started when student Tarnicia Durham left a pizza in the oven that already contained a half-cooked chicken pot pie. The pot pie was left unattended too long and caught on fire.
Gaudin said the fire was contained inside the oven, but there was an extreme amount of smoke. The entire building was evacuated, and there was no damage other than smoke damage.
“The RA did a great job extinguishing the fire quickly,” Gaudin said.
Ann Bailey, director of housing and residents, said kitchen fires don’t happen frequently but still occur randomly in residence halls. Bailey mentioned the possibility of having a program for cooking safety to prevent future kitchen fires.