BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — A fire that damaged the roof of an Indiana University gymnasium named for a trustee who advocated racial segregation may have been ignited by a "hot spot" left by workers who had been welding, the fire chief said.

The fire at the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center was discovered and extinguished Wednesday before flames could damage more than a section of wood and shingles on the roof's south side.

Bloomington City Fire Chief Roger Kerr said the fire might have started after workers welded or soldered on the roof or gutters earlier in the day, leaving behind what he called a "hot spot."

Firefighters tore large copper seams from the roof of the center to extinguish the flames, leaving several of the indoor basketball courts flooded with water from the hoses.

A ladder truck raised several firefighters to the roof where they used chain saws to cut into the building.

"Had they not stopped it when they did, the wood throughout the ceiling and the roof most likely would have been destroyed completely," Kerr said.

The gymnasium was named in 1971 after Wildermuth, who was the school's Board of Trustees president during 1938-49.

Letters that he wrote in the 1940s and which came to light in 2007 revealed that Wildermuth, who died in 1964, strongly supported racial segregation.

In a 1948 letter to an IU administrator, Wildermuth stated, "I am and shall always remain absolutely and utterly opposed to social intermingling of the colored race with the white."