8A - Monday, October 26, 2009 " The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 8A - Monday, October 26, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom 0 FIRE From Page 1A Despite these worries, it was quite some time before the build- ing was completely evacuated. Many residents remained inside the building and watched the flames from their rooms before they were forced to leave. "A lot of people were leaving because of the smoke," Engineer- ing sophomore Billy Mayer said. "But if people didn't leave because of the smoke, they' didn't leave because of the fire alarm." Mayer, who lives on the elev- enth floor of University Towers, did not evacuate until almost mid- night, when police officers arrived and told him he had to leave the building. LSA sophomore Gabe VanLoo- zen said he remained in his apart- ment until the fire alarm went off, almost an hour after he first smelled smoke. "We had a great view from my apartment, it was pretty cool The old Pinball Pete's building was ravaged by a fire late Saturday night. This photo, taken Sunday, shows the darate. looking," VanLoozen said. "The alarm went off and it got really noisy so we decided we should get out, but we were watching it for about an hour before the alarm went off." University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said approximately 600 students from University Towers were temporarily dis- placed because of the fire. She said students were allowed back into the building around 2 a.m. But many students reported that they weren't notified when the building was reopened. "I had a friend check the door. close to 1:00 a.m. but it was still closed," VanLoozen said. "I checked it myself around 1:30 a.m. and it was open so I went back in." According to VanLoozen, the only people in the building after the fire besides the return- ing residents were inspectors making sure the air quality was safe. After several attempts to speak with the management of Universi- ty Towers yesterday, the Daily was told the manager was not working and was unreachable. Cunningham said the extent of the damage was limited to six apartments in the building. Undergraduate Program Coor- dinator Cheryl Erdmann sent an e-mail to Communications Studies majors Sunday night, informing them of damage to the Commu- nications Studies offices located in the same building as University Towers. "Ourdoffices have sustained minor damage from smoke and water and a broken front glass door pane," Erdmann wrote in the e-mail. "We do not have computer or telephone access in the depart- ment atthis time." "We are attempting to resolve these issues as quickly as pos- sible," she added. Dziubinski told the Daily that investigation had begun into the cause of the fire as of 2 a.m. Sunday morning. But he said he was unable to comment on the investigation because it is ongoing. However, Battalion Chief Rob- ert Voteo said yesterday that the owner of Pinball Pete's mentioned an issue of trespassing. "The building owner said that it has been a continuous problem since it's been vacant," Voteo said. Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown told the Daily around 2 a.m. Sunday morning that she was not aware of anyone receivingmedical atten- tion. Within minutes of the first signs of smoke emitting from the house, students began to pack into the street to watch the flames. Even though police officers had attempted to blockade the side- walk on both the Church Street and South Forest Avenue sides, the crowds outside remained and onlookers were able to make their ways to the scene through a pas- sageway, called the South Uni- versity Galleria Shopping Center, between buildings across the street. While most University students never got the chance to frequent the former location of Pinball Pete's, residents who lived in Ann Arbor during the arcade's prime were visibly upset at the scene of the fire. Marni Glovinsky, lifetime Ann Arbor resident, watched the infer- no from across the street, tears streaming down her face. Glovinsky said she spent nearly everyday when she was 14 years old at Pinball Pete's. "It's like watching your whole childhood burn down," she said. While the fire burned on the west side of South Univer- sity Avenue, the east side of the street remained a bustling night scene. Both of the bars on the block stayedopen throughout the entire sequence of events and patrons lined up outside as if it was any other fall Saturday night. Natalie Putman, a waitress and bartender at The Brown Jug, said the bar was not affected by the commotion outside. "It wasn't really an issue," she said. "A lot of people were just running up to the front (of the res- taurant) to watch." Momo Tea, located directly next door to the burning build- ing, was completely empty in the midst of the fire, but the lights remained on and the "open" sign illuminated. Calls to Momo Tea throughout Sunday afternoon were unan- swered and the store was locked and dark early Sunday evening. I Do you hae what it takes to El GLOBAL OPERATIONS CONFERENCE C O FE NCE 2NOV ,.ll' IA-l G GI' ('l&LfIGi) Speakers Hau L. 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