Fire at UW-Milwaukee Theater

MNicolai

Well-Known Member
ETCP Certified Technicians
Fight Leukemia
Last edited:
New estimate at $1M damage, but a full assessment will have to be done once they can get back in there. Smoke and water damage to 3 buildings total, a result of the interconnected nature of the campus structures.

Fire started apprx an hour after students who had been working in the scene shop left for the night. Potential faulty electrical panel being investigated.

proxy.php


http://fox6now.com/2017/04/09/fire-...ed-1m-damage-to-uwms-peck-school-of-the-arts/
 
And this comes after the State Theater in February. Milwaukee is having a rough year.
I'll be curious to see how far the fire spread compared to smoke and water damage.
 
Sounds like fire stayed pretty well concentrated in one area but the smoke and water didn't.

Lots of skyways and tunnels on campus connecting buildings together. Fire dept cited this as the reason they elevated to 2-alarm fire so quickly. Will be interesting to see if there were smoke control mechanisms in place that were defeated or non-operational. Doors propped open in backstage cooridors, or large doors between scene shop and stage left open.

I haven't been backstage in that theater in about 10 years so I don't remember much about the layout of the backstage areas.
 
I've got a former professor who is working there now and been posting about it. I'll update if anything interesting comes from him. He was in the building that night and saw the firetrucks later that night but most of the faculty didn't even find out about until today.
 
Construction in a couple phases over the 1960's.

Some info from Chancellor's message on the fire:
[...]
You may already have read news reports about the fire, which was discovered about 10 p.m. We believe that it started in the set/scenery shop, and although the cause is still under investigation, we believe the fire was accidental and not suspicious
[...]
The set/scenery shop was destroyed by the fire, and the Theater and adjacent Arts and Music buildings all suffered smoke and water damage. Classes in all three buildings will be cancelled Monday and Tuesday, and ensemble rehearsals on Monday are cancelled.
[...]
 
Last edited:
http://uwm.edu/news/uwm-play-moves-rep-fire-teaches-students-new-lessons/

small update:

"Good news. As we begin the slow process of re-organizing and rebuilding after the fire, the final show of the UWM THEATRE season has found a new home at the Milwaukee Rep. The entire community has really come together to help us move forward.
That's how Theatre folk are. That's what theater folk do. They come together and help one another solve problems. We are all so grateful. We're so appreciative of the Milwaukee Rep and all of the other theatres and institutions that have reached out and offered to help us!"
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back