ORLANDO --
A dorm on the University of Central Florida campus caught fire on Friday night.
A third-floor dorm room in Tower Four caught fire around 10 p.m. after a candle was left unattended, firefighters said.
Firefighters said a female resident of The Towers went to the bathroom, and when she returned, an unattended candle had caught fire.
Residents were forced to evacuate when smoke began to fill the stairwells. The building houses 500 students.
A UCF student was treated at the scene and a UCF police officer was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters said locked doors made it difficult to make sure everyone made it out of the building safely.
"Keys in hotels and dorms -- master keys -- are sometimes hard to get," Orange County Fire Rescue Batallion Chief Douglas Brown said. "Staff had the master and we were able to get in and do our searches."
UCF sophomore Jenny Clausen had to evacuate her dorm room.
"I was like, 'wow, there actually is a fire, that's really scary.' I was like really scared because I didnt want it to spread and destroy the whole building," Clausen said. "Its like basic fire safety, dont leave candles unattended."
Students had to stand outside for hours while firefighters got the sprinkling system up and running again as well as cleaning up the mess from the water damage.
"I feel really bad for her, if it was me I would have been really upset and embarrassed," Clausen said.
Firefighters said students did try to put out the fire, but only fanned the flames.
UCF spokesperson Chad Binette said 50 students had to be removed from the dorm due to damage to their rooms. They were given the option to stay in other dorms.
All of the damaged rooms should be ready by Wednesday except the room where the fire originated, Binette said. That room will not be repaired for at least a month.
Copyright 2008 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
