'Suspicious' fires damage dormitory

Two fires damaged Morgan House just before 9:30 p.m. Friday, closing the Towers quadrangle dormitory for almost three hours as investigators attempted to determine the cause of the flames.

"It's fair to say the fire is suspicious in origin," said UConn Police Major Ronald Blicher.

According to Blicher, the fires began separately and set off alarms and sprinklers within a few minutes of each other.

No one was injured, Blicher said, but a window blind and the wall above it were burned. The Resident Assistant's door on the second floor was charred as well.

The RA, who refused to give his name or any other information, citing the ongoing investigation, said he was in the area when his door caught fire but was not in his room.

The fire also inconvenienced UConn Hillel, which is using Morgan House as a temporary meeting place while their building on North Eagleville Road undergoes renovations.

According to Sarah Maltese, a 7th-semester special education major, Hillel was hosting more than 20 students from other universities and spent nearly three hours in the hall director's office while the fires were investigated.

"It was pretty annoying," Maltese said of being kept in the office. "They wouldn't tell us what was going on."

On Sunday morning, the ground floor of Morgan smelled of wet charcoal and the ceiling tiles above the damaged wall had been removed.

The door of room 212 displayed slightly more damage, with a shallow indentation burned into the wood just below the top of the door. The fire had also melted the plastic casing of the manual door closer that was mounted above the charred area.