A fire broke out in the Davis Performing Arts Center yesterday morning when a welding gun inadvertently sent sparks into a garbage can containing used scenery.

Robbie Hayes, technical director for the Davis Center, said several students were welding scenery for an upcoming production at around 10:40 a.m., when sparks from the gun ignited discarded cloth netting, which was used in the recent production of “Wisconsin Death Trip,” put on by the Program in Performing Arts. Hayes said he used a fire extinguisher and water to douse the flame and then moved the materials outside. The fire lasted less than a minute.

The smoke from the fire triggered the fire alarm, Hayes said. Two D.C. Fire Department trucks and the fire chief’s SUV arrived at Healy Circle soon after Hayes extinguished the fire.

There was no property damage other than the burnt scenery and no one was hurt, said Ron Lignelli, managing director of the program in performing arts.

“We are glad the fire was minimal and no one was hurt,” he said.
Hayes said the students used metalized inert gas welding, an electrical method that can cause sparks. Lignelli added, however, that fires had never been a problem before.

“The students are probably not proud of themselves,” Hayes said.
An hour after Hayes extinguished the flames, Obehi Utubor (SFS ’09), a work-study student at Davis, said she still smelled the effects of the fire.

“It smells terrible,” she said. “It’s still really smoky down there in the shop.”

Hayes said he met with officials in the university’s Office of Risk Management after the fire to discuss preventive measures, though he did not disclose what those measures were.

Utubor said the scene shop is usually safe.

“Everyone’s trained,” she said. “It’s not really dangerous, there’re never accidents.”