Getty Fire: Students Make Harrowing Escape from Mount St. Mary’s University As Flames Approach

Diana Rodriguez, a second-year business major at Mount St. Mary’s University, was studying for her principles of management class when the lights flicked out for about a minute at 1:30 a.m. Monday. Five minutes later, she smelled smoke. But she had smelled smoke last week, drifting south from a blaze in Santa Clarita; surely whatever fire was burning now was similarly far away, she thought. Then, around 2:30 a.m., resident assistants banged on the door of Rodriguez’s dorm. Everyone needed to gather their things and evacuate, they said.