Caroline Dresselhuys was getting ready for bed Sunday night when the fire alarm started blaring.
In the midst of her confusion, the freshman received a text from her resident assistant telling everyone to evacuate. This wasn’t a drill.
She and her floor filed out of Harper Residence Hall in Foster Quadrangle just before midnight, unsure of what was going on. They saw firefighters enter the building.
The firefighters spent the next hour tending to a fire on the second floor trash room.
Just after 1 a.m., Dresselhuys and the rest of the Harper Residence Hall reentered the building.
Two trash cans were scorched and melted, and the trash room sustained significant smoke damage. The ceiling immediately outside of the trash room was also damaged by smoke. No student belongings or rooms were damaged.
Dresselhuys said someone told her their friend threw a blunt in a trash can to start the fire, but Bloomington Fire Department Sgt. Bryan Hutchinson said the cause of the fire is currently unknown.
