A fire broke out in the concession stand of the Robert R. Hermann stadium last Friday, Sept. 6, in the afternoon.

The room that caught fire was used as a storage area. In preparation for the Lady Billiken’s soccer game that evening, the concession stand workers were moving boxes around. In the moving, someone inadvertently turned on a burner to a stove in that area. The boxes on top of the stove caught fire.

The Department of Public Safety and the St. Louis Fire Department responded to the incident. The blaze was extinguished quickly by the firefighters, being contained to just the storage room. After an inspection by the Fire Investigator it was determined that, the fire was caused accidentally and later classified as a minor fire.

Smoke did travel through the vents into Monsanto Hall, yet the Hall sustained no damage. Don Hood, chemistry instructor, temporarily delayed chemistry labs, moving the classes outside until the fire and smoke was under control.

The fire did not interrupt the soccer game; and it was played as previously scheduled.

Locker rooms and restrooms were shut down due to smoke damage but will be fully operational by this weekend. The concession stand had smoke related damages and it will be temporarily closed until all repairs have been made.

According to Facilities Services the damage has been inventoried by Facilities Services, but Chartwells still needs to inventory their belongings and determine whether the stove, icemaker and other such food items will be repaired or replaced.

“We have begun the fire restoration process of getting rid of the smoke damage in the concession stand,” said Jeff Hovey, Facilities Services supervisor.

“After the smoke damage is cleared, there is some electrical, dry wall and ceiling repair that needs to be done,” he said.