Rylan Howe

Lawrence firefighters hose down a concession stand storage container yesterday afternoon at the north end of Allen Fieldhouse. Firefighters hauled the container outside to contain the fire and minimize the amount of smoke filling Allen Fieldhouse.

A cardboard box full of potato chips caught fire in the lobby of Allen Fieldhouse yesterday afternoon.

The box was in a heater, which contained various kinds of barbecue food that Bum Steer Bar-B-Q was going to sell at yesterday’s game against Kansas State.

The KU Public Safety Office and the fire department responded and controlled the situation quickly.

“Now this is the real ‘Phog’ Allen Fieldhouse,” said Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director.

Neil Spector, Buffalo Grove, Ill. junior, had been at the fieldhouse since 2 p.m. camping out for his group, the Buddy Hawks. He said he knew something was wrong when the hall started to fill with smoke in the north end of the fieldhouse.

“It smelled like someone was having a barbecue,” he said. The oven was unattended, he said.

About 150 students were camping out for the game. Spector said most of the basketball players he saw leaving the gym where they were practicing seemed confused.

Campers were evacuated pretty quickly, he said.

The oven was removed from the fieldhouse and a fire extinguisher was used to put out the flames.

“It looked like a camp fire,” Spector said.

Marchiony said that the hallways and the floor would be cleared of the smoke between 45 minutes and one hour.

He said he hoped fans wouldn’t realize there had been a fire.

In the two seasons Marchiony has been at the University, he said a fire had never occurred.

Two fire engines and several police cars responded to the small fire.

The fire department continued to monitor the atmosphere of the building until the start of the men’s basketball game.