Cigarette ashes cause actual fire in Dod Hall

At 6 pm today, the fire alarm went off in Dod Hall. Now, first let's clear the air. The fire alarm always goes off in Dod. Truly, all the time. But today, something was different. Today, there was a fire.Ten minutes after the fire alarm sent a handful of Dod residents out onto the lawn, the Fire Department was there, and the paramedics were there, the university fire marshal was there, and Public Safety was there. Firetruck after firetruck flew down Elm Drive, and sirens filled the air! 25 people in all responded to the call, assistant fire chief Bill Mooney said. A student in Dod said that firefighters tried to enter the building...but had to wait for Public Safety to prox them in.Mooney said that the fire started when cigarette ashes were dumped in a trash can on the second floor of Dod. The resident of the room, standing shirtless in front of the Dod basement with university fire marshals, declined to comment, but students said he was coming back from a shower.I asked Mooney if the response was standard for a small trash can fire."With a dormitory building, it's a very high risk," Mooney said. "There's a large number of people that may be in the building. We held it to the units here and we had more coming."And, he added, "We could have called more in from other towns if we needed more help."Got it, Dod? It doesn't matter how many times that fire alarm wakes you up at 5 am in the morning. When you really need the Princeton Fire Department, they'll be there. Oh, they'll be there.(More photos after the jump.)