SOURCE: The Daily Tar Heel
POSTED BY: Emily Simmons on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013
Asma Warrich, resident of Cobb dorm, on evacuating the building after her power went out due to the attic fire (11/5/13).
SOURCE: The Daily Tar Heel POSTED BY: Emily Simmons on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013
18 Comments
Omar White
11/12/2013 09:28:13 am
As a student here who resides on-campus, I was not sure how to react when I heard about the Cobb Residence Hall incident. I immediately thought what I would do if I were in that situation. I can not imagine how those students must have felt or how they are feeling. I had someone tell me that if you live on-campus, you do not receive compensation or are not insured for fire among several other things. To this extent, I am eager to see how the situation will play out? Can you imagine the amount of snacks or pairs of shoes that were lost in the fire? I think something needs to be done. The students who weren't responsible for the fire still have to suffer the consequences. Basically, it sucks.
Tyler Hearn
11/12/2013 03:28:37 pm
Although this was an untimely and unexpected tragedy, I believe it was handled pretty well. The fire fighters responded in a timely manner and seemed to gain control of the fire and put it out relatively quickly, which is always a positive. I also think the Department of Housing and Residential Education is handling the situation in a fair way. While they said they are not sure if the department will pay for damages, they do remind everyone that this is the very reason students buy insurance, to cover for unexpected situations such as this. They are also being respectful of the students in the Cobb dorm by setting most of them up in subsequent living for the time being, and allowing them to go into their rooms and gather basic belongings that they need. As bad and as damaging as this situation is, I think the Department of Housing and Residential Education handled it well from a PR standpoint and did a good job of taking care of the students after the fire.
Anna Quattlebaum
11/12/2013 09:23:53 pm
I have mixed feelings about how this situation was handled. On one hand, I think that it was dealt with in a timely manner, but on the other, I don't think the temporary living situation was handled very effectively. A coworker of mine was one of the students that had a new roommate who needed to relocate due to the fire, and she was never asked or informed that this would be happening. If her RA had not told her at the last minute, she would have walked in on a random person in her room without any knowledge of the situation. From a PR standpoint, I think that the Department of Housing and Residential Education could have done a better job of contacting students who were getting temporary roommates.
Amy Lazo
11/12/2013 11:45:22 pm
I was so shocked to hear that for once the fire was real and I feel sorry for all of the displaced Cobb residents. Not only did they have to worry about losing their possessions but now they are placed in whatever empty rooms they had on campus meaning that roommates will be separated and Cobb residents have to live with people they don't know in another dorm. This is a very unfortunate event for the Cobb residents but at least the university is acting quickly to get all of these people placed with somewhere to stay although I feel something more should be done to compensate the unfortunate students that were affected by this fire.
Andrew Ryan
11/18/2013 12:31:57 pm
I remember times living in Hinton James my freshman year when the fire alarm would go off and it would be a delayed response getting out of bed knowing that it was a drill. to hear that the fire in Cobb was the real thing is alarming knowing that there were so many students in there that were probably reluctant to leave. However, I was at a charity event that day featuring a fire truck pull when the call went out that there was a fire in Cobb. The fire trucks left the event and responded quickly, so I knew the students were safe.
Gabrielle Diepenbrock
11/19/2013 10:59:38 pm
I can't even imagine what it is like for the fourth floor Cobb residents who were placed into other living situations during this time of the semester. Having to deal with final exams and projects while being transplanted into another part of campus seems very stressful. I hope Carolina helps pay for the student's damaged property, and I hope professors have a lot of understanding as those students face these last weeks of the semester.
Patrick Ronan
11/20/2013 12:11:49 am
I lived in Hinton James my freshman year, and I can only imagine what an ordeal like this would be like to go through. The fire started because of a piece of insulation was laying on top of a light ad caught fire. Although this is awful for the kids on the 4th floor, at least no one got hurt. I've heard lots of complaints from Cobb students about how tey are going to pay for new housing or new belongings. I hope the university would help them out, but for some reason I don't see that happening
Dia Barber
11/24/2013 12:24:10 pm
When I heard that there was a fire in Cobb I didn't know how to react. At first I thought that it was just a false alarm until I saw coverage of the fire on TV. I can't imagine what it would be like to live in Cobb and have to relocate half way through the semester. I haven't really kept up with how the university is handling the situation since I life off campus and don't know anyone affected, but I hope that everyone was compensated for any damage to their property. Hopefully it will all be handled in a timely and fair fashion!
Kristina Parker
11/24/2013 04:21:25 pm
As a residential advisor for an on-campus community and a friend of several Cobb residents, I have seen and heard first hand of all of the effects this fire has had on the students involved. Sure, emergencies on college campuses happen, but they are rare and this one was avoidable. The majority of attic fires are started with insulation problems, so this should have been something that the university checked routinely to ensure the safety of its students. The night of the fire, all of the residents were left outside of their "home away from home," some wondering what they were going to to for the night and others trying to get their textbook for their exam the next day worth half of their grade. In my opinion all of the students who lost personal belongings in the fire should be fully compensated by the university, and if not, they have the right to sue. Sure the fire was an accident, but it could have been avoided. This time of year is also one of the most stressful, and although many of the Cobb residents were offered their rooms back, many were forced to make other living arrangements. I empathize with all of the students involved and hope an incident like this does not happen again. The university should have at least been better prepared at handling a situation like this, and better about communicating information to all of the Cobb residents.
Haley Huckabee
11/24/2013 08:25:30 pm
One of the students who lived on the floor affected by the fire is in one of my classes. I got to hear first-hand the stories of what happened. He told me that he was currently living on the floor of a spare room of a nearby church with his RA because Carolina had not given him a substitute room yet. I can attest to this classmate because I was involved in the flood in Granville last year. Not only did it affect my studies, but it affects your social life as well. I fortunately got to stay in my place in Granville but one of my best friends had to move to Hinton James which is the perfect opposite corner of campus. She was really affected by this move and UNC did not seem like they were in a rush to help. However, I think that the situation with Cobb was handled more effectively. I think the students should be compensated for their belongings or at least for their belongings related to school (textbooks, laptops). I hope that this incident is worked out fairly for the students and this helps prepare UNC better for an accident like this in the future
Cassie Pezza
11/24/2013 11:47:14 pm
It's a shame that there was substantial water damage to the rooms closest to the fire. You never really think about your plan of action in a time like this until you're caught off guard by the fire alarm or the smell of smoke. Most of the time these drills are for minor occurrences, so you don't think twice about leaving everything inside to get out quickly so you can get back in and finish studying asap. I think this was a wake up call to dorm residents of UNC - Mainly to take drills seriously, grab your most valuable belongings, and exit safely. I'm glad the damage was fixed in a timely manner. Although it must have been inconvenient for the residents to be scattered among other dorms on campus, it's an experience - it gave everyone a chance to meet new people and engage in what we call the Carolina Way, by helping those in need or receiving the help offered by fellow classmates. I hope the students will be compensated for their damaged possessions, especially the school funded items. When you come to college, no one presses that you get renter's insurance. This was a learning experience for all.
Haemi Won
11/25/2013 09:35:01 am
When I heard that there was a fire in Cobb, I did not take it seriously at first. Only because I have heard many stories about small fire in dorms. However, I soon realized how serious the accident was. One of my friend was told to leave her rooms and she had to go to Student Union for that night to get a relief goods. It was a nightmare for her the fact that she had to stay outside and was not allowed to go back to her room to grab the items that she needs for that night or a day after. She left everything at home because she never thought that this would be happened to her. Now, she is living in a different place because she was told to move and live in different room. I have learned that we should be extra careful and be prepared for unexpected accident like this one.
Rachael Walker
2/13/2014 11:29:22 am
I think that the Cobb fire was so upsetting for the people who lived in the attic and couldn't move back in at all this year. As someone with a good friend who lived in the Cobb attic, I saw how upsetting it was for her. She is from out of state and lost some of her belongings. She then had to schedule a trip home just to access the things that she needed and bring them back to school. She was also displaced to another dorm on the opposite part of campus, where she has no friends and doesn't know her way around well. I just feel bad for the people in that situation and think that, as a campus, we should all reach out to help them in any way that we can.
Michelle Park
2/19/2014 10:48:27 am
When I first found out about the Cobb fire, I didn't think much of it. I thought it was a small fire that would be taken care of easily. However, hours later I saw multiple posts on Facebook concerning the fire and realized that this was a much bigger issue than I thought it was. Especially when I tried to park at Cobb that evening and the road was blocked for the fire department. I feel awful for the students that were directly affected by the fire and were displaced to another dorm. It's difficult to imagine how many little things added up to such a stressful ordeal on top of going through the motions of a regular academic day. I regret not actively reaching out to those students and learned that if a similar situation were to happen, I'd be more inclined to be a helping hand.
Emily Rojas
2/23/2014 09:27:27 pm
This quote was really hard-hitting to me— shoes are something that no one goes outside without putting on—you never leave your house and say "oops, I forgot my shoes!" For this girl to have left her shoes inside, she must have been afraid for her life, and that is really frightening.
Paige Patterson
2/24/2014 10:01:54 am
I think that this is a great quote that really embodies the whole reaction to the fire. The fire was obviously completely unexpected and scary and frazzled many students and faculty. The fact that the student forget her shoes and just got out of the building shows how shocked and afraid she was. However, I also think that because the girl had no warning and obviously no time to really react and get herself together before leaving the building shows that UNC needs to have better ways of reacting and responding to this type of situation.
Jordan Mathews
2/24/2014 12:48:36 pm
As someone who works in housing and was a victim of the Granville flood I found this quote amusing. It takes me back to last year when I was running frantically down the hall to grab all my valuable belongings with the siren blaring. It almost seems like housing here at UNC is cursed. Leave a Reply. |