Blackout Beatdown West Texas A&M defeats Wildcats
vol. 100, no. 9
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wednesday, september 23, 2011
Sports page 8
1 SECTION, 8 PAGES
We learned that almost simultaneously there was a large grass fire off of Lowden and Highway 351.” -Jimmy Ellison, ACU Police Chief
Mandy lambright staff Photographer Smoke fills the sky as a brush fire behind the Coca-Cola plant rages during the day causing a power outage in the surrounding area.
local
Brush fire creates campus-wide blackout melany cox page 2 editor The campus-wide power outage on Wednesday afternoon was the result of a transformer that blew out during a brushfire that ignited the area near Highway 351 and East Lowden. The fire began around 1 p.m. in an area that once served as Abilene’s landfill. Shortly after the fire started, a transformer exploded, leaving several homes, businesses and the entire ACU campus without electricity. Power was restored to the area shortly after 1:30 p.m., and the perimeter of the fire was contained. By 2 p.m. the flames had consumed 75 acres. On Wednesday night the Abilene Fire Department reported in an information update that approximately 150 - 180 acres had been burned. In addition to the fire department, the
Texas Forest Service responded with ground personnel, equipment and aerial tankers. Fire fighters predicted the flames might last for several days. No injuries were been reported, but the fire department urged residents in the area to remain vigilant. The cause of the fire has not been determined, but it was speculated to have been started by another transformer explosion. However, the transformer that caused the power outage exploded after the fire began. The sudden loss of electricity was a shock to many people on campus. “I was in Core and we were all sitting there just talking at the beginning of class and then a loud noise sounded and the electricity shut off,” said Rachel Easley, a sophomore pre-dental major from Belton. The blackout occurred as many people were in the middle of lunch, said Nan-
cy Lozano, a cashier in the Bean. “Our kitchen went totally dark,” Lozano said. “People were still coming in so we continued to serve them. I wrote their [student identification] numbers down and did it like that until the lights came back on.” Lozano could only describe students’ reaction to the sudden plunge into darkness as “Woah!” ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said the department initially believed campus’ loss of electricity was due to a simple power failure. “We quickly learned that not only did the main campus lose power but a large surrounding area lost power,” Ellison said. “We learned almost simultaneously that there was a large grass fire off of Lowden and Highway 351.” Ellison said many people became more concerned about the power failure when
they noticed the billowing smoke that could be seen from campus. “We began to be inundated with calls about ‘Is the fire on campus? Is that what’s knocked the power out? Do we need to evacuate the campus?’” Ellison said. “Our roll then became, from an emergency management standpoint, to alert the campus community that it was simply a power outage caused by a brush fire off campus, and we did that via ACU ALERT.” Students who subscribed to ACU ALERT received a text message or email informing them of the situation shortly after the power was restored. Ellison said there was never a direct threat to the campus. He credited the Abilene Fire Department with their early arrival and admitted that, had the wind been stronger, the fire could have been more dangerous. Ellison advised everyone to remain calm in events like
daniel gomez chief Photographer Firefighters from the Abilene Fire Department open a fire hydrant near the blaze to get water and help contain the progress of the fire. The fire was caused by a power line transformer that exploded just north of I20 and North Judge Ely Blvd.
power outages and encouraged students and faculty to call the ACU Police Department if they have any questions. He reminded the student body that a large number of people on campus are not enrolled in ACU ALERT and are not benefitting from the updates sent out through that system.
“I think this is another good reminder that everyone needs to register with ACU ALERT,” Ellison said. “It’s free, it’s easy and it ensures that you get emergency information.” contact cox at mkc09b@acu.edu
University
ACU takes No. 1 spot in U.S. News region rankings Samantha Sutherland features editor ACU commanded attention in this year’s U.S. News and World Report rankings which recognized it as the number one “Up-andComing” university in the western region. The award is determined through a survey conducted each year of the president, provost and chief enroll-
ment officer at each university in the western region. ACU was the most selected university for the ranking out of 160 schools on the list, said Kevin Roberts, chief planning and information officer at ACU. ACU has won this award three of the past four years in the No. 1 spot, said Grant Rampy, director of public relations. “‘Up-a nd-Com i ng ’ implies that the school
has suddenly risen, and there’s something in it that points to a rising above, Rampy said. “But if you look at it in terms of them asking the top folks running schools, ‘Hey, who do you hear about?’ and they keep saying ACU, it shows that we keep hovering in this very talked-about level.” There are two known extremes of schools, Roberts said. Some, like
Stanford, are notorious, while others struggle to keep their doors open. Between those extremes are schools people begin to notice more and more, which is what the “Up-and-Coming” award recognizes. These are schools that will be a force to be reckoned with. ACU also moved up in ranking to the 17th spot from 19th on the U.S. and World Report scale of the
best schools with masters institutions in the Western region, a remarkable feat, Roberts said. “A movement of two places doesn’t sound like much, but that’s more than any school in the country in any of the regions,” Roberts said. “That movement is really unheard of.” U.S. and World Reports uses an algorithm that weighs different factors
more heavily than others, including alumni giving and class size, and analyzes all the schools within the same scale category, Roberts said. “Given the number and breadth of things they ask in the 300 question survey, they can probably capture the full essence of what a university is like,” Roberts said. “It’s at least an objective way to rank order of universities, and continuing to move see ranking page 4
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