Coos Bay Fire Chief Stan Gibson, right, walks past a fireman talking to witnesses, as he goes into part of the building where a woman was injured in a fire Wednesday morning at Southwestern Oregon Community College. Bottom photo, Students talk to each other outside Eden Hall minutes after art student Nancy Douglas was taken to Bay Area Hospital with severe burns. Douglas was later transferred to Legancy Emanuel Burn Center in Portland, where she later died. World Photos by Madeline Steege

A Southwestern Oregon Community College student died Thursday morning after being hospitalized Wednesday for severe burns.

At 10:45 a.m., Nancy Douglas, 68, of Coos Bay, a well known local artist, was found in Eden Hall with her clothes on fire, leaving her severely burned. The cause of the accident remains under investigation.

Coos Bay Fire Department's initial investigation indicates that Douglas' clothes caught fire while she was working on a project outside the building.

An instructor and student in the Eden Hall lobby smelled smoke and found Douglas in the ceramics area behind the building with her clothes ablaze.

They reportedly extinguished the flames with fire extinguishers while another student dialed 911.

Douglas sustained serious burns on her upper body and was flown to Legacy Emanuel Hospital burn center in Portland, after first being treated at Bay Area Hospital on Wednesday afternoon.

According to a hospital spokesperson, Douglas died early Thursday morning.

“Our hearts go out to Nancy's many friends during this difficult time. Our college family is just devastated by Nancy's passing. She was well known in our art department and she will be deeply missed,” Southwestern President Judith Hansen said in a statement released this morning.

“Our whole college community, which has enjoyed watching Nancy grow from a retired professional to an artist with a show here last month, is saddened by her death,” Hansen added in a phone interview.

Douglas battled breast cancer several years ago and later underwent brain surgery to remove a benign tumor and months of rehabilitation to recover. She was well known in the community, having worked as an artist with mixed media and welded steel sculptures, as well as acrylic paintings, for many years. Douglas had been an independent study sculpture student at Southwestern for the last year and a half, and her steelwork and mixed media sculptures were on display in the Eden Hall Fine Art Gallery in March.

On Wednesday, the loud rumble of fans disrupted the usual peace and quiet of the campus, as firefighters attempted to clear Eden Hall of smoke. Several nursing students who had attempted to provide medical assistance to Douglas before emergency personnel arrives, crowded outside the building following the incident, in tears.

“It was a phenomenon to me that we had emergency professionals on campus who responded within a minute, and medical professionals in the next building who went to the scene immediately. I'm very proud and pleased, at the quickness that our staff and students responded to a very unfortunate incident,” Hansen said.

The college takes the incident very seriously and continues to investigate how it occurred, Hansen said the statement from the college. The college will be looking at safety procedures, supervisory procedures and equipment to make sure that students are safe, she added.

According to Coos Bay Fire Chief Stan Gibson, there was no damage to the building and the fire remains under investigation. Southwestern had no additional information on how the incident occurred, but will provide any assistance necessary to fire officials, Hansen said.

“We are still very confused about the circumstances surrounding the fire,” she added.

Classes in Eden Hall were canceled Wednesday afternoon, and the college is making counseling available to assist students and staff members in connection with the accident.