After a Nicholls student left a pot of grease unattended at his La Maison du Bayou apartment and a kitchen fire resulted, the student was arrested for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, which were discovered by the Thibodaux fire department after clearing the site.
Erik Bures, 24, 2956 Woodland Ridge, Baton Rouge, was arrested on June 19 at 2:26 a.m. University Police Chief Craig Jaccuzzo said that the first offenses for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia are both misdemeanors. “He could face a minimum of probation or a fine to a maximum of one year incarceration,” Jaccuzzo said.
The fire department also found a BB rifle and large knife in the apartment. Jaccuzzo said that Bures is banned from the campus, pending a disciplinary summons for the disposition of the weapons.
The fire was put out by the sprinkler system in the apartment, Mike Naquin, Assistant Vice President for Finance, Controller and Thibodaux Fire Department chief, said. The damage to apartment 224 that resulted was to the cabinets above and adjacent to where the pot was on the stove, and Naquin said that there also was significant water damage to the wall and carpet. Naquin said that the vacant apartment under 224 also had water damage.
“Had it not been for the sprinkler system, chances are that the fire could have had the opportunity to grow, and it could have been a lot worse,” Naquin said.
University Police received the fire call at 12:28 a.m. on June 19, Jaccuzzo said, and then notified the fire department. Naquin said that when the first fireman arrived on the scene, a campus police officer told him that they thought it was an alarm malfunction. However, after going to the alarm panel and locating that there was water flow in building two, the fire department knew that it was either water flow or that a sprinkler had been activated, Naquin said. The fire department was then given the apartment number by a girl who had seen water coming out under the door of room 224.
“You could actually smell that there was something burning (…) inside the room,” Naquin said. “Smoke was coming out the door. It wasn’t heavy, thick, black smoke, but it was smoke.”
Naquin said that the fire department directed a fire truck in the quadrangle and put a ladder to the second-story balcony. After the fire department discovered that the fire had been put out by the sprinkler system and identified that the smoke was from the grease, they began clearing the apartment of being a fire hazard, Jaccuzzo said. According to Jaccuzzo, it was during the process of clearing the apartment when the marijuana and drug paraphernalia were found.
Doug Graham, Vice President of Collegiate Management Services, said that although the incident was unfortunate, all parties responded accordingly.
“The first priority is always to preserve life,” Graham said. “Our safety systems played their role. The authorities were notified. The fire wasn’t that bad, but someone could have been injured.”
Graham said that when someone moves into an apartment, the importance of safety is always stressed, and he said that fire safety is a big part of that.
Naquin said that for the most part, the residents of La Maison du Bayou were cooperative and that he did not have any problems with anyone. However, Naquin said that students should never take fire alarms lightly.
“Big fires start out small,” Naquin said.
