Little fire, big trouble

STORY BY RACHEL LEE-THOMAS, KAHFEEL BUCHANAN, KEVIN GALLANT, KEITH CORKUM

Last night a small fire broke out in Macdonald Heaslip Hall in B Wing at Sheridan’s Trafalgar Campus.

Classes in HB08 and DB11 were briefly cancelled, but have now returned to their regular schedules.

Students were working on a class activity when the fire broke out on the stage at 8:30 p.m.

According to a firefighter on the scene, the fire started when a lamp set fire to a curtain on the stage that then fell on a piano.

According to Michael Burjaw, Sheridan’s head of security, everyone in the B, D and A Wings was evacuated, and were not let back in the building until around midnight. One of the students on site reported the fire, and it was later determined there was no foul play involved.

The firefighter explained that nobody was injured in the incident, and there was definitely going to be smoke damage.

Christine Szustaczek, Sheridan’s director of corporate communications, said the area has been vented, and air quality tests have been ongoing since 1:45 a.m. Tuesday. Only the theatre in D Wing is closed. The registrar’s office has been moved to four separate locations.

“The physical damage is not great, but the smoke and the soot damage is going be the most expensive. Our focus won’t be on rebuilding it, but getting it clean,” said Burjaw.

Sheridan currently has workers in the theatre attending to the damage, and Burjaw estimates that the theatre will be open to students in a month.

Burjaw later said the theatre will reopen in time for the 2015-16 Theatre Sheridan Season in December.

The following divisions of the registrar’s office have been relocated:

Fee Payments – will occur out of Finance, Room B244

Admissions and Records/Registration – Learning Commons and STC

Financial Aid – HMC and DVS and by email at fin.aid@sheridancollege.ca

Contact Centre – relocated to IT Learning Commons and the TR Welcome Centre