WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News: Fire Destroys UWGB Apartment

Fire Destroys UWGB Apartment

By Kristin Byrne

The fire was reported around 5:15 Thursday morning at one of the first residence halls built on campus at 3334 Walter Way.

The 17-unit building houses 63 beds.

Officials say no one was inside when the fire started, but campus officials say close to 70 campers staying overnight at three nearby dorms.

Temp, Long and Schaefer halls had to be evacuated.

A man delivering newspapers on nearby Scottwood Drive says he spotted smoke coming from the building and called 911.

"I noticed big black flame smoke coming out of this area here," said Gene McDermid, "so I called 911 and as I came around the building was just engulfed in flames."

Campus officials tell us the residence hall is a total loss and the cost to replace it is estimated at three point five million dollars.

Investigators believe an electrical problem may have started the fire.

Now, UW-Green Bay says it's figuring out how to house about 60 students scheduled to live here this fall.

"Fortunately we have about 10 weeks before classes start so we've got some time to figure out what to do here," said UWGB's Mike Heine. "It's not an immediate concern because there aren't any students living here and no one is scheduled to be in this building till about August."

UWGB says all the rooms at this residence hall had been assigned for fall. The school is in the process of notifying students that its working on finding them other housing.

The university says right now its looking at all housing options for these affected students, both on campus and off.

When on-campus housing is already tight, University staff and students know today's fire only makes securing housing here more challenging.

"I'd say for the people who are living here," said UWGB student Joy Hanneman. "They are out of luck its pretty much they're going to have to scramble to get some place to live."

David Mesa UWGB Student

Student David Mesa said, "It doesn't really help when this situation happens, but hopefully they get it fixed by the end of the summer."