Thread: ...you get home to see this on the news...

OLLU is on fire. I had just gotten home from taking one of my finals and I see on my parents TV that Our Lady of the Lake University is on fire.

For anyone familiar with Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, the main campus building is where the fire is located. It is still all over the local news for anyone living in San Antonio.

Boy what a way to end a semester. I go to the University of the Incarnate Word, but still sad to hear that such a huge fire broke out and is still burning and has been burning since about 7:30pm CST. It's a 4 alarm fire and no word if there are any injuries or deaths yet.

I can only imagine what those people are going through. The news has already spread to certain parts of my campus and I think we're going to be doing something to try to help them out/send our condolences later.

I just hope no one gets hurt, and the can put the fire out quickly.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...o/5759807.html

SAN ANTONIO -- A roaring fire struck Our Lady of the Lake University late Tuesday, devastating the school's Main Building, a structure of silver spires that had graced the city's skyline for more than a century.

No injuries or deaths were reported from the four-alarm blaze, which drew more than 30 firetrucks and 120 firefighters — more than half the city's available resources.

Throngs of emotional students and onlookers flocked to the historic West Side campus and stared at the shooting flames in disbelief. They hugged the nuns who lived at the Catholic university, trying to comfort them.

“The feelings about this place run deep,” said a distraught Sister Dianne Heinrich, 61.

Built in 1895, the Main Building and its gothic spires were designed by the renowned architect James Wahrenberger. It has stood at the heart of the campus, housing a dormitory and administrative offices.

The loss of the Main Building is a devastating blow for a university that's been bleeding students for a decade, leading to budget cuts, layoffs, sinking morale and questions about whether the university would survive in the city's competitive higher education market.

It's not clear how the university, which has a small endowment of about $27 million, will recover financially from the loss of the Main Building. But one thing is clear — the storybook building with its towering, Camelot spires never can be replaced, said Star Carey, a marketing professor at OLLU.

“It is just glorious the way it was, the stained glass windows, the turrets that were so impressive,” Carey said. “There is so much love in those buildings. The way the work was done, it is a major loss for the city as well as the students and staff.”

As the flames still burned, university President Tessa Martinez Pollack spoke to a crowd of students on the steps of the library on what she described as a “sad and surreal night,” for the campus.

She grew emotional when speaking of the fire destroying one of the majestic steeples on the Main Building

“One of our beautiful spires went down ... but our beautiful mother is still standing,” she said, speaking of a statue of the Virgin Mary located next to the spire.

Morning classes are canceled today, but some classes might resume in the afternoon. Pollack directed students to the university's Web site, www.ollusa.edu, for updates. Faculty and staff will be called as needed.

OLLU officials will hold a prayer service today at noon. Details of where the service will be conducted will be announced later this morning.

The fire was reported at 7:44 p.m., when a security guard called the Fire Department and said there was heavy smoke on the fourth floor, Fire Chief Charles Hood said.

“It was a very stubborn fire,” Hood said.

High winds turned powerful streams of water into mist, he said, and the age of the building and the location of the fire on its top floors further complicated the job.

Hood said the fourth floor looked like someone had dropped a bomb on it.

Eve McQuade, 29, a communications graduate student, was on the building's second floor when it caught fire. She was studying in a computer lab when the fire alarm went off.

She thought it was a prank at first. But when the students walked into the hallway, an administrator rushed to them and warned them to get out of the building.

They stepped outside and saw dark smoke and huge flames above them.

“It was pretty scary,” McQuade said. “Everything seemed to be happening very quickly. Fortunately, there weren't a lot of people in the building.”

Earlier that day, a trash can fire had been reported at Ayres Hall, across the street from the Main Building, but it was quickly put out, according to students who were watching the blaze.

On Monday, a written bomb threat was found in a bathroom. Administrators evacuated the school but didn't find anything.

Students said there have been fake fire alarms for weeks and there was a recent incidence of vandalism in a dorm. Hood said arson investigators are looking for the cause.

“It's been very, very sad to see this happen to such a jewel in the middle of the West Side,” said former City Councilwoman Patti Radle, who's represented the West Side and attended the university. “There's so many people tonight who are sad to see such a relic in our city burn.”

Radle didn't believe the fire would mark the end of the school — she hoped it would be a poignant sign that the university needs help from its alumni.

“God has great ways of bringing good from terrible things,” she said.

University spokesman Dan Yoxall said the university had a “wonderful heritage” that would help it survive.

“We're moving on from here,” Yoxall said. “We'll talk about the financial loss at the proper time, but at this moment we are just trying to move forward.”

Louis Sierra, 21, a sophomore from San Antonio who lives in the Flores dorm, said he was awestruck by the loss of the Main Building.

“It's very emotional, especially since this school is so historic," he said.

San Antonio resident Patricia Benner, 50, had just phoned Sister Mary Florence Volz about a piano lesson for her son but didn't receive an answer. While flipping television channels, she learned through breaking news that the Main Building was in flames and she and her sons rushed to the campus, worried the fire spread to the convent.

They found the piano teacher standing near the convent, gaping at the fire, hands covering her ears in shock. Benner's son sprinted to the nun and hugged her.

Meanwhile, dormitory residents displaced by the fire were relocated on campus by Red Cross and university officials. About 35 students from the Theresian dormitory, which was located in the main building, were affected along with 83 Providence dormitory residents. The Providence dormitory was closed out of safety concerns.

How sad. Such a beautiful place and I hope and pray that everyone is safe.

When I got up this morning at 6 they were still fighting the remains of the fire due to the wind making the water from the hoses weren't as effective and the nature of the fire's location. I believe it is finally out though and as of this moment there is still no word of anyone being injured/deceased, so that's good news.

They had a nice shot of the statue of the Virgin that was left standing around the remains of the rest of the floor. Pretty amazing that it didn't get destroyed as well.

I heard too from one of my professors that they were using the attic of that building as part of their archives, so they just lost who knows how many years of data.