By Zak Zeinert, Chief Photographer

A crowd of students gathered in the grassy mall area in front of Moody Coliseum after Chapel on Monday to watch a residence hall room go down in flames.

The “burn room” is an annual ACU event sponsored by Residence Life and Physical Resources to educate students on fire safety and demonstrate to them how quickly a fire can start and spread.

The room is outfitted with typical dorm room items like bedding and curtains to fully simulate a real dorm fire.

Gary Hamner, public education officer, said the event has annually lit up the campus for the past four or five years.

“We do it every year because we have new students and new freshmen that come in, and they need to see an impact on how quickly it can spread,” Hamner said.

Darren Curry, assistant director of housing, also believes it is important to understand how fast a fire can spread.

“One thing about the burn room is that there’s nothing in there that’s not in a typical dorm room. There’s nothing in there that will accelerate the fire, just bedding and clothes,” Curry said.

He said the room’s accessories come from various places such as donations and even items left behind in residence halls from the previous years.

Many of the materials are recycled from the year before, said Ricky Brown, safety manger for Physical Resources.

Kevin Claypool, residence director of Edwards Hall, said the “burn room” shows why residence halls have certain rules.

He said the fire took two minutes and 40 seconds to completely consume the room.

“We’re just trying to give students an awareness of just how fast a fire can build in their rooms,” said Greg Goettsch, Abilene Fire Department public information officer. “Maybe they’ll think twice about lighting a candle or leaving it unattended in their room.”