Fire and Death, Hope and Healing

It's 2:00 a.m. After hours of studying, watching TV, playing music, and talking with the other guys on your floor, you're mentally and physically worn out. You say your good-nights, go to your room, undress, and crawl into bed. Maybe you say a prayer at that moment, but nothing too profound. After all, you're tired. And when you lay your head on your pillow, you probably don't even give a thought to the possibility that some harm might come to you in the night.

Somewhere around 5:15 on the morning of Tuesday, December 9, the men of Kinney Hall begin to awaken. Some hear the smoke detectors. Others are startled out of their beds by the shouts of floor mates and the pounding of fists on their doors. It's still dark outside, and smoke is rapidly filling the halls of their dormitory. In the back lower lounge on the west end of the building, a fire that began on a small sofa is spreading, consuming furniture, books, the television. Down the hall, the pay phone is melting.

All through the corridors of Kinney Hall, half-awake young men are forced to make quick decisions with life-or-death implications. Should I take time to get dressed? Where is the best escape route? Does everyone know our dorm is on fire? Should I open my door?

Firemen arrived around 5:30 A.M. to find flames shooting out of the front of Kinney Hall.

A view of the devastation looking into the front enterance.

A Future Lost

It is not clear exactly what awakened him, or when, but this bright young man full of promise was found by fire fighters minutes after the fire was out, face down in his doorway. Greenville Fire Chief Bill Johnston speculated that Pierce probably died instantly after opening his door, overcome by superheated smoke and fumes.

He was the youngest of six sons born to Paul and Margaret Pierce. Along with family and friends, the entire campus felt the pain of his loss. None more, however, than Janae Ferguson, a red-haired 21-year-old Elementary Education major from Columbus, Indiana. Ferguson and Pierce were just 11 days away from their wedding.

Seven men from Kinney were taken to Utlaut Hospital in Greenville and treated for smoke inhalation and cuts received while escaping through broken windows. All of the injured were released from the hospital later that same morning.

All 35 survivors of the Kinney Hall fire were quickly relocated to other housing. Some chose to stay with friends or family in Greenville, and the rest were assigned other accommodations on campus that same day. So their housing needs were met, but the guys had lost many or most of their personal possessions to fire, smoke, or water damage. Some lost everything.

The story didn't end there, however. In fact, this drama of tragedy, hope and healing was just beginning.

Crisis Management

Tom Morgan focused on dealing with student needs, both physical and emotional; Rex Catron managed the Kinney site logistics and served as a liaison to fire department and law enforcement personnel; and David Hoag handled public relations, serving as the official college spokesperson and supervising the release of information. All three would have their hands full for the next several days and weeks.

After the fire, the men were taken up to the dining commons and served a hot breakfast. Campus counselor Teresa Holden and several religion professors were on hand to talk with the guys and begin to work through the difficult psychological and spiritual issues.

Following an emotional and prayerful chapel service, classes were canceled for the rest of the day.

The intensity of the media crush was unlike anything Greenville College had ever experienced before. Television crews from the five major stations in St. Louis were on campus by mid morning. So were reporters from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Associated Press. Alumni and parents all over the country began hearing the news as early as the 7:00 hour on NBC's Today Show.

In spite of the enormous interest this tragedy generated, the media handled the story with restraint and sensitivity. Students who were interviewed spoke of Greenville as a close-knit and caring community. Those who knew Joel Pierce talked about his love for God and the hope of eternal life we have as Christians. God was already bringing good out of a bad situation.

The Taxi Driver

President Smith took out his cell phone and began to talk to people back in Greenville and also to Joel Pierce's mom. After the calls were completed, the taxi driver turned and said, "You have a real problem, don't you, sir?"

President Smith replied, "There's been a fire on our campus and a student was killed."

The driver said, "There's only one place to turn, and that's to God."

"Then he showed me his open Bible lying there in the front seat," says President Smith, "and he began to share scripture verses with me." Then they prayed together. The two men were from different worlds, but they shared a common bond in Jesus Christ.

Overwhelming Response

The donations began flowing in almost immediately. A Kinney Fire Victims Fund was established by the college, and more than $7,000 came in within the first three days alone, $1,600 from GC students. Since then, total contributions to the Victims Fund have climbed to about $24,000.

Then there was the clothing. On the afternoon of the fire, Tom Morgan's wife Betty organized a clothing drive in the basement of the Free Methodist Church. The community responded generously. Betty estimated the clothing drive netted some 500 pairs of blue jeans, 200 coats, and 100 pairs of shoes, plus stacks and stacks of other clothes and personal items.

"I really didn't know what I was getting into," says Betty. "We kept trying to organize it, because if you come in and there's 500 pairs of jeans here, where do you start? It was overwhelming."

And the donations kept coming. Free prescription drugs from Utlaut Health Services, toiletries purchased by men from the Presbyterian Church, $50 in GrandPa's gift certificates for all the guys from the federal prison outside Greenville, $150 each from the Salvation Army, backpacks and school supplies from the Centralia and Carlyle Wal-Marts, calculators from United Stationers, Bibles from the Gideons, shoes from J. C. Penney, money and clothing from churches in Greenville and St. Louis, a trailer from Poettker Construction Company for storage of personal items that could be salvaged from the fire. Marriott kept the dining commons open beyond normal hours, served free coffee, and delivered food anywhere it needed to go. Super 8 and Best Western motels offered special rates to students and visiting parents.

"It was such an experience of seeing joy in sorrow," says Betty Morgan. "There was tremendous grief, and yet there were so many good things."

Surveying the Devastation

Very few of the students' belongings were salvageable. Some had brought to school everything they owned--computers, stereos, CD collections, and expensive musical instruments. Almost all were lost in the fire.

In the days following the fire, Kinney was inspected by a general contractor, an architect, an insurance adjuster, and a structural engineer. They concluded the building was structurally sound, but it would have to be pretty much gutted inside. The college decided to repair Kinney Hall rather than tear it down and start over. Cost estimates start at $600,000.

The college has insurance, but not covered are the upgrades necessary to bring the 32-year-old dormitory up to today's building codes and other requirements. The college's out-of-pocket expenses will likely reach $250,000, and a campaign is already under way to raise the money by September 1998.

Investigation Continues

The fire started on a small couch in the lower rear lounge area,but the cause remained a mystery. The experts were able to rule out any electrical or mechanical problems with the building, so all indications point to some sort of human involvement, either accidental or otherwise.

The investigation into the cause of the fire is being coordinated by Greenville Police Chief Lou Lorton. All of the men from Kinney, along with the residents of Tenney Hall next door, have been interviewed by investigators at least once. Several prank phone calls were received around the time of the fire, but their connection to the incident is unclear.

Chief Lorton has stated publicly that he believes the fire could have been the unintended result of a prank. There is no hard evidence, however, to support the theory, and no one has yet come forward with the information needed to solve the case. It is possible that the cause of the Kinney fire may never be known.

Donations Continue

Gordon College in Massachusetts sent an 18-foot-long banner covered with more than 250 signatures, well-wishes, and Bible verses. An oversized card with multiple signatures came from Houghton College in New York. A large card with notes of encouragement came from the Free Methodist Church in Pendleton, Oregon.

Lee University in Tennessee, which experienced a dormitory fire itself four years ago, sent four people to Greenville, including two survivors of their fire. They had dinner with the men from Kinney and shared mutual experiences. They also brought with them a $1,000 check for the victims fund and a long banner similar to Gordon's, filled with signatures, thoughts, prayers, and Bible verses.

All of the banners and cards were hung in the dining commons as a frequent reminder of the thousands of friends and strangers across the country who were supporting and praying for Greenville College in its time of need.

In a special issue of The Papyrus put out just one day after the fire, Student Association President Corey Ross wrote, "I am astounded (though I shouldn't be) by the tangible and intangible love poured out by administration, faculty, students, and surrounding community. The GC community is forever marked-----not only by tragedy, but also by the love of Jesus Christ that brings us closer together."

"The pain will never completely go away," says President Smith, "particularly from the loss of life. The lesson that we learned, the joy that can come from being a part of the body of Christ and how the body responds when there's hurting, we don't want to lose that. We want to keep that right in the forefront of our minds."

The mission of Greenville College is to equip students for lives of leadership and service. Says the president, "Now we know the need side of servant leadership. Now we are better prepared to know how to reach out in love, and we're certainly better motivated to want to do that, because we've seen what it's done for us."

A Seed Planted

"Although the quantity of Joel's life has not been as long as we would have expected, the quality was remarkable," stated Religion Professor Rick McPeak, his friend and academic advisor.

As TV reporters looked on and their videotape rolled, the sanctuary resounded with the victorious message of Jesus Christ that Joel lived to tell through his music. The words, both sung and spoken, provided encouragement and strength for those mourning his loss.

"What shall we say the kingdom of God is like? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade." Taken from Mark Chapter 4, these words both motivated Joel in his life and comforted his loved ones in his death.

Soon after arriving on campus in 1994 to begin his freshman year at Greenville College, Joel found opportunity to cultivate a long-time love of song-writing and performance with other student musicians. These efforts resulted in the formation of the band called Mustard Seed, and proved to be his primary means of spiritual and musical expression to encourage others in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

During the memorial service, the members of Mustard Seed offered an appropriate musical tribute to Joel, which included these lyrics: "I should have died, but by your memory I will survive."

In his remarks, Brian Hartley, assistant professor of philosophy and religion, defined the hope in the midst of grief, which comforts this close-knit community. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. May the seed that God has planted through the life and the ministry of the person we call Joel Pierce bear much fruit."

"God worked through the life of Joel and his music," says President Smith. "He is a mustard seed. His life has now been planted, and I'm confident there's going to be growth from that mustard seed."

On the orange construction fence that was put up in front of Kinney Hall after the fire, a poem was attached, written anonymously in memory of Joel. Laminated to protect it from the weather, the poem is still hanging there today. It reads:

God's timing is not ours to see,
your life on earth too short for me.

Your death untimely they will say;
"a waste," "cut short," "a tragedy."
The lives you touched forever changed.

Now you play in heaven above,
the angels keep your harmony.
No earthly worries to tie you down,
no pain, no sorrow, no tears to shed.

Walk with Jesus, walk with Paul;
know the answers to it all.
My faith must be like a mustard seed
to hear you play again for me.