On Jan. 2, 2002, a fire destroyed the Food Service East building on the SMSU (then SSU) campus. The fire started accidentally in the dishwashing area on the main level as a result of work being done with an acetylene torch. Fire departments from Marshall, Minneota, Ghent, Tracy, and Cottonwood responded to the fire, which burned primarily in the area between the roof and ceiling of the Food Service East building. The firefighters used 500,000 gallons of water initially. An additional 200,000 gallons of water were used over the next five days, as the fire continued. A total of 785 hours went into fighting the blaze.

After the fire, the university worked immediately on dealing with the effects of the fire. The first action was to address the food service. Plans were made to move food services to the multi-purpose room in the spine area of the R/A Facility. Temporary classrooms and offices were located to the west of Bellows Academic. The buildings most damaged by the fire were the Student Center West, Student Center, Founder’s Hall, and Fine Arts. Crews worked around the clock to get the campus ready for the students’ return on Jan. 28, but those building were not ready when classes resumed on Jan. 28 for the spring semester.

The first event on campus after the fire was “Volunteer Appreciation Weekend” on Jan. 18 and 19 when the women’s and men’s basketball teams hosted UM-Crookston and Minnesota State Moorhead respectively. Firefighters from the five responding departments were honored during the halftime of Friday’s game.

The fire that destroyed the Food Service East building was one of many tragedies to occur in the 2001-2002 school year. The headline in the Marshall Independent on Jan. 3, 2002, read “One Thing After Another.” Before the fire, three fatal car crashes and another fire struck the campus community. Prior to school starting in August, a student Thomas Rauk, was killed in a crash in Iowa In December, Professor Catharine Cowan was killed in a crash as she drove to Chicago for Christmas break and student, Dan Ourada, was killed in a crash near Lucan. In October, a fire blamed on arson in the Individualized Learning building caused $500,000 in damage.

It has been near 18 years since these tragic events occurred. The fire is a part of SMSU’s and Marshall’s history that many people who experienced it will not forget. Also, the memory of students, Thomas Rauk and Dan Ourada along with Professor Catharine Cowan live on in the SMSU community. The photograph featured this week is courtesy of the Southwest State University Focus magazine of January, 2002. The Lyon County Historical Society is a non-profit, member-supported organization. For more information on membership, research, volunteering, or the museum’s collection, please contact us at 537-6580 or director@lyoncomuseum.org.

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