Taco sale bursts into flames

A fire was started on Feb.18, during a taco sale by the Utah State University Latino Student Union.

The LSU sold tacos outside of the Taggart Student Center to promote Latino culture and awareness on campus. During the taco sale, the LSU President Eddie Campos used a butane burner to cook the tacos when it suddenly caught fire.

“In the moment you kind of just freeze and don’t know what to do, but after a split second you react,” Campos said. “It was a little scary, but most of all I was just worried about the safety of other people and making sure nothing around caught on fire.”

One of the butane burners was not connected properly and leaked gas. This was the cause of the fire.

“Thankfully it didn’t go back to the butane burner and explode,” Campos said.

Inside the TSC, Braden Probst, a USU Dining Services employee, noticed the fire and ran for a fire extinguisher.

“The students were not properly trained on the operation of the gas burner,” Probst said. “It was this lack of training that actually caused the fire.”

Other employees working in the Hub, a retail dining operation inside of the TSC, began to notice the fire as the flames grew.

“It could have been much worse than it was,” said Kimberly Stephens, a USU Dining Services employee. “I was appalled at how I saw one of them trying to put out the fire by waving a piece of cardboard at it which only fanned it to life.”

Probst returned to the scene with his employer Jaime Bradford, the assistant director for retail operations. Bradford used an extinguisher and put out the fire.

“We are glad that Jaime was there,” Campos said. “She helped us out a bunch and got it all figured out. We are glad we had someone that knows how to use a fire extinguisher because there have been other fires that she has dealt with this school year.”

The LSU utilizes their taco sales each year to raise money toward scholarships for hispanic/latino high school seniors. So far, six taco sales have taken place this school year and the club hopes for two more sales at the end of March. According to Campos the money raised at these fundraisers goes toward two scholarships for high school seniors and often one more for a Utah State University student. Each scholarship covers about a years worth of books.