Brandon Hall Fire Meeting (MDCL 7pm): Meeting Minutes
7pm
- Dr. Peter George begins speaking to crowd
- Not all information about the building's state is available at this time
- There are two primary objectives for McMaster at this time:
- Finding student accommodation
- Making sure that the student's academic year is not affected
- The four students who were injured are no longer in hospital and are doing okay
- The fire was considered an act of arson
7:08pm
- Turns mic over to Karen Belaire, Crisis Management
-
What happened:
- Temporary building opened to house students
- Food served to students
- Fire Marshall took control over the building
- Building did have considerable damage, but the amount of damage was not certain until 5pm on Sunday evening when McMaster staff were allowed back into the building to inspect it
- McMaster's team of experts (structural engineers, electricians, technologists) are determining the extend of the damage
- Excessive damage to electrical as well as the elevators - it is confirmed that the
elevators are no longer working, and it will take a minimum of
8 months to have the elevators back in operation
The Immediate Response
- Red Cross was contacted Saturday morning and setup cots in the afternoon in Smith Gym
- Only 12-15 students required the cots, the rest of the students found other accommodations
- Access to floors 4-11 were given temporary access Saturday afternoon to retrieve items from the building. Floors 1-3 were still blocked off since they were considered a crime scene
- Students from all floors were allowed to retrieve items from their rooms in a controlled access process Monday afternoon
- Students who live on the 2nd floor were not able to enter the building, but teams did retrieve essentials on their behalf
- Mid-term examinations continued as scheduled for all McMaster students
Academic Plan
- Students are not expected to hand in ANY WORK or write ANY TESTS this week
- Students will be given extensions for any graded work due this week. They will be given an opportunity to write mid-term tests at a later time
The Housing Plan
- It is expected that the students living on the floors 1-5 will be able to move back into Brandon Hall
JANUARY 2nd
- Floors 6-11 will not be habitable until
SEPTEMBER 2009
- As of Monday afternoon, McMaster continues to
secure off campus housing (hotels, homes, billets, etc) for affected students
-
Beginning tomorrow (Tuesday October 21st), students will receive direct communication from Housing Services to begin the process to match students with housing (students will be contacted and given accommodations that McMaster is organizing)
- Of the 554 students in residents, over 100 of those do not live in commuting distance (thus the challenge for getting everyone accommodation in Hamilton is very big)
- It is extremely important that before leaving the meeting tonight, students were expected to complete the questionnaire by visiting one of the volunteers serving at the information desk outside
-
On Thursday October 23rd, McMaster's restoration team will inventory, catalog and pack remaining items in all rooms
- Items that are too large (ie. TV's) will all be logged, secured, and removed from the building - stored into a warehouse building. Students will be able to pick their items up from that warehouse building
- The warehouse will be located on Frid Street and the date for pickup is TBA
FAQ's
Q: Why didn't you call the parents?
A: McMaster does not have the capacity to do so, students asked to phone home themselves
Q: When can you get all your belongings?
A: Next few days, you can remove belongings. People will be there to help. ALL FLOORS WILL BE EVACUATED. If you do not pick up your items, they will be retrievable in a warehouse. NO ACCESS TO 2ND FLOOR. Items on second floor will be removed by McMaster staff
Q: Why has this taken so long?
A: Getting access and getting information from building started Sunday night.
Q: Who will get accommodation first?
A: Students in 1-5th floor will be able to move back in January.
Students in floors higher than 6th will have to have longer term accommodation set up.
There is an off-campus housing service that you can look into and rent off-campus housing - which will be refunded through the McMaster insurance provider (including commuting fee)
7:30pm
Floor opened to questions from audience (ANSWERED BY KAREN)
Q: A student has been told by their professor that they can not use the fire as an excuse
A: Academic accommodations are in place, they should go contact their Associate Deans Office to get assistance
Q: Do students have any fire drills to prepare for this emergency?
A: Fire testing takes place every Tuesday morning in this building
Q: Will McMaster cover cost of hotel rooms?
A: YES. Wherever McMaster assigns students to stay will be paid for
Q: Why no security cameras in elevators and common areas?
A: We do have cameras in some areas but not all. This is private residence, and not all information can be divulged at this time due to investigation.
Q: False alarms are so common in this building that students just ignore them and go back to bed, how will you address this?
A: This is a topic of residence council leaders. Hamilton Fire went door to door to evacuate the building. Staff in the building worked appropriately and quickly - going down all the halls to notify students.
Q: If we do choose to go with RLS and get housing from McMaster, do we get to choose our own roommates for our new housing?
A: Housing services staff will be in touch with you and try to do their best to accommodate you, if possible. Some locations may only have single rooms or doubles, so it will take some effort. I can't give you everything you had here on campus, but will try to make it comfortable
Q: If we choose not to go with housing from Mac, can we get a refund of the entire fee? Or just a portion of the fee?
A: It is my understanding that the normal refund is based on the date you leave the residence - that is the plan for this case. But this may change do to the circumstances
Q: Will there be extra fees for moving off campus?
A: No.
Q: What recourse does a student have if the housing they are given is not suitable to their needs?
A: Housing Services will be responsible to work with students and work individually with each student to work out their needs
Q: The additional costs associated with moving out (transportation, moving, etc)
A: I ask that you give more time to work out the details of the insurance coverage - transportation is covered. Personal belongings are
not covered - they are to be covered by your own property insurance
Q: What time did the alarm go off, and what time did the fire department arrive?
A: Terry Sullivan, director of security will have this response.
TERRY: Alarm went off 3:58am, fire dept. arrived within 3-5 minutes
Q: The warehouse with heavier furniture - Will you cover costs for moving vans?
A: Yes. We will cover moving costs.
Q: Parent - at 8am we heard the news from the news reports on TV/Radio but heard NOTHING from McMaster. We could not contact our son for hours, he was not in the cafeteria. Someone told us to go to the hospital and see if he was admitted! In the future, how will you communicate faster?
WHY DID THE MEDIA GET INFORMATION FIRST BEFORE THE PARENTS?
A: The media hears all the calls that go over the wire, so they know that fire was dispatched to the university. They hear that. They are often on scene at the same time that police and fire are here. They are around, it is real-time reporting for them.
Our immediate work here on campus is with the students and when the students come out of a building like that, usually a fire alarm you're outside for 20 minutes and move back in, but in this case it was different.
We do not have a record of every student coming out of the building. We did not have 500 students in the residence, some leave for the weekend, some were not in the building, we do not log them. But your point about why we didn't communicate, our team is active about issues happening on campus. The team was not able to come together until 9am Saturday.
Q: Extra safe guards in place for other residences?
A: Residence teams have been working to do extra watches and due diligence at this time
Note: TONIGHT'S MEETING IS BEING BROADCAST VIA WEBCAST. Q & A's will be available online.
Q: My child is currently in a hotel. When should they check out?
A: They should not check out until they have had a conversation with their residence managers. We want them to stay where they are.
Q: How long until we know about housing/accommodation?
A: Process will begin tomorrow. It will take several days to work out these requirements.
Q: What is the university going to do for security walking to and from university now that they are living miles away?
A: We understand that students wanted to be on campus to be close to everything. McMaster will provide a credit to use for transportation (eg. daily commuting allowance to use taxi back and forth)
Q: If I am commuting this week, will I be reimbursed?
A: Check out the website tomorrow for details on reimbursements
Q: So we only have 2 days to pick up our stuff?
A: Yes. Two days and then your items are moved to the warehouse for later pickup.
Q: What about printing?
A: Printers will be setup in Mary Keyes and Les Prince, and those who were in Brandon can print for free (as they understand students may have had a printer in their room that they no longer have access to)
Q: Can you arrange time after classes to pickup stuff? Times during day inconvenient due to class
A: Times to pickup items from building are supervised and require staff to be on duty. Contact housing services and setup a time, they will accommodate on an as-needed basis
Q: How is McMaster changing security after investigation results come in?
A: We will look at all the information to take the best action. Updates to parents won't stop tonight, continual communication will occur over the next few months
(Parent comes to Mic and congratulates the crisis team as well as the res staff on the second floor - particularly the advisor by the name of 'Nav', as well as all the roommates who helped by waking up those in their room and getting them safely out the building. Everyone applaudes)
Q: What will happen to the CA's?
A: They are not going anywhere, and still have jobs to do!
Q: How can community get involved?
A: Contact the Off Campus Housing Centre and let them know you have a place or supplies to help give students or rent out your property. They will let the students know.
Q: How will spirit be continued for Brandon Res students?
A: University plans to have social gathering over next few months for the students to continue to meet and keep friendships going
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