75 Evacuated in College Fire : Electrical Problems Believed to Have Caused Golden West Campus Blaze; No One Is Hurt

As if the tension was not high enough the day before finals, a smoky fire at Golden West College on Thursday forced the evacuation of 75 students from the school’s cafeteria and student center.

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Investigators said the fire apparently started just after 3 p.m. in a small room where beverages and paper products were stored, possibly as a result of electrical problems.

The three-alarm blaze brought 54 firefighters from Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster, who put it out in about 15 minutes. No one was injured.

School officials credited swift action on the part of Linda Gyrie, the food services coordinator who discovered the fire, and Rendell Drew, the dean who helped with the evacuation.

“It was a very orderly evacuation,” said university spokeswoman Wendy D. Weber. “There were no injuries. No one went out the windows. Everyone walked out the door.”

But many of the students left so quickly that they left their belongings, as well as their food, in the building, which also houses the student activities office, lounge and student council chamber.

An hour after the fire was extinguished, some food was still on the tables in the smoky, two-story structure, where melted soft-drink dispensers looked like black icicles.

Throughout the late afternoon and early evening, firefighters escorted students into the building to retrieve their belongings.

For the time being, students on the 122-acre campus will have to depend on nearby fast-food restaurants, Weber said.

“If we get power back, we will have coffee in the morning,” Weber said. “We’re going to try to serve food if it’s possible.”