To the Editor:

Re: “Beast Escapes the Fire in Annual Dragon Day Festivities,” News, March 18

I feel that a voice should be given to the opinions of many Cornellians and Ithacans with regard to the recent attack on Dragon Day traditions. I have been in correspondence with Assemblywoman Lifton and various other politicians. Although my concerns have been surprisingly well received, I am only one person. I am asking others to become involved.

As Sinead Lykins ’12 was about to start her Spring Break, she was unpleasantly surprised when maintenance personnel arrived at her Lyon Hall dorm room, intent on removing the two interior doors in her three-room suite.

As part of an effort to bring certain West Campus dorms into compliance with fire code changes, Cornell Housing scheduled interior doors to be removed from several West Campus dorm rooms on the afternoon of March 13.

At about 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, a small fire broke out in the third floor kitchen of Risley Hall, keeping its residents from their rooms for about three hours. No serious damage was done, as the fire was quickly put out by Devin Conathan ’08, who received first to second degree burns on his left hand.

“I walked by the kitchen and saw a four-foot flame coming out of a pan in the stove,” Conathan said.

Upon seeing the fire, Conathan was “a little scared,” but he maintained his calm and put out the flame with a fire extinguisher.

The resident who set off the fire by leaving an oiled pan on the stove unattended apologized to the entire Risley community through an e-mail later that night.

The news of Olin Library’s renovation, which is set to begin in 2009, includes plans to update the building’s fire safety system and has stirred discussion on campus, raising questions as to how safe University buildings actually are.

That Olin Library does not meet fire codes brings into question fire safety systems in other buildings on campus.

Carl A. Kroch University Librarian Anne R. Kenney did not explicitly say whether or not Uris Library, built in 1891, meets fire codes. The building has never been completely renovated despite “numerous renovations [and] improvements to portions of the building,” according to Kenney.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters on Tuesday faced worsening weather conditions that pushed flames across firebreaks in parts of inland California and chased residents out of one small community.

Along the coast, however, an evacuation order was lifted for a lengthy section in the scenic Big Sur area.

The weather change came from a high pressure system setting up over the entire West, said Mike Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. "So in addition to the very warm temperatures we're getting, we'll also be getting a little bit of offshore wind ... which keeps the moist marine air from coming inland," he said.