By Jeb Edwards
Public Relations

When Adam Kornegay, manager of the Clinical Neurophysiology Services, came into Rutledge Tower Oct. 2, the last thing he expected was to be running down the hall for a fire extinguisher.

Kornegay came to work to help administer an MUSC-hosted exam being given by ABRET (American Board of Registration of Electroencephalographic and Evoked Potential Technologists), the national credentialing board for the electroneurodiagnostic community.

Ninety-eight people from throughout the country were taking the test, including examinees from as far as Ireland and Saudi Arabia. Kornegay said the people "had a lot invested in this examination" between test fees and travel expenses.

Kornegay was sitting in an office speaking with a section leader of the examination when he heard a fire alarm sounding for Rutledge Tower. He was immediately confused because he knew no one other than examiners and examinees should be in Rutledge Tower 6, he said. He got up and began quickly checking the halls for the source of the problem. Shortly after beginning the search, he saw the smoke bellowing out of the examinee break room.

When he rushed through the door and saw the flames leaping from the counter top to the cabinets, his adrenaline was pumping. He was playing a major role in hosting the exam. He felt responsible. "I was in the zone," he said. "I didn't even know who else was there."

Somebody had left the water boiler switched on with no water in the pot, which caused the heating mechanism in the water boiler to melt the plastic, catching napkins and tea boxes on fire.

Adam Kornegay holds a hot water pot similar to the one that started the fire in the break room.

He rushed to the counter, grabbed the napkins and tea boxes, threw them in the sink and turned the water on. When Kornegay saw that the pot itself was still flaming very high, he was about to fill a cup of water to douse it when he noticed the cord on the pot was melted.

He thought, "Wait, that's electric. I can't use water, that's going to be bad." Running down the hall to retrieve the closest fire extinguisher, he returned to spray the flames. In all the excitement, Kornegay failed to realize how much smoke from the burning plastic he was inhaling. This, coupled with his asthma and a stubbornness to keep doing his job, sent him to the hospital for two days from smoke inhalation.

After the flames were out, the smell of burned plastic encompassed the floor where the test was being given.

Kornegay and his team had to move the testing to a higher floor in Rutledge Tower. ABRET executive director Janice Walbert was instrumental in moving the exam upstairs and allowing Kornegay to stay focused on communicating with the administration, firemen, public safety, environmental services and caterers. Kornegay said that everybody did an amazing job resuming the test. There were no complaints from the examinees. Everybody pulled together. "It was almost surreal how well it worked."

Two weeks after the fire, his voice was still weak from the smoke chemicals. Marjorie Tucker, president of ABRET, praised how well it was handled. Kornegay said this is a tribute to the faculty and MUSC facilities that things were able to run smoothly for the examinees.