Category Archives: College/University (on campus)

College/University (on campus)

Tempe, AZ – Computer monitor fire in classroom building at Arizona State University contained by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

A small electrical fire stemming from a computer monitor in ASU’s Brickyard complex occurred on Sunday evening, according to a spokeswoman from Tempe Fire Medical Rescue Department.  There were no reported injuries at the time of publication.  “The fire was in an actual computer monitor,” interim Assistant Chief and Fire Marshal Andrea Glass said.

The building sprinkler system was activated and contained the fire’s location until firefighters arrived to the scene, Glass said. The cause for the fire is still undetermined, but the department will conduct an investigation to determine the cause.

“There was extensive work done by the fire crew to protect the computer systems that were located on the second floor from the water damage,” Glass said.  The Brickyard, located on Mill Avenue, houses several Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering labs and classrooms, as well as the ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center, the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and multiple research centers.

Students working in the labs said they immediately evacuated the building upon hearing the fire alarm.  Aditya Prasad Mishra, a masters student studying computer science, was working in his lab at the time of the incident.  “I was a bit worried when I smelled the smoke coming outside,” Mishra said.  Once the fire was contained, the fire department started letting people back into their offices to get their belongings before continuing the investigation.

 

College/University (on campus), School / University

Rolla, MO – Fire in university laboratory suppressed by sprinkler system; No injuries and damage limited

Crews are cleaning up today after a small fire broke out in a second-floor laboratory in McNutt Hall on the Missouri University of Science and Technology campus.  The fire started at about 8:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 13, and automatically triggered the building’s sprinkler system. The sprinkler system suppressed the fire, and Rolla firefighters extinguished the remaining fire. The lab was not occupied at the time, and no one was injured.  Damage was confined to a desk area with no fire damage to the building. Due to the activation of the sprinkler system, there was isolated water damage.  Because of the water damage and cleanup, S&T closed the north section of the second floor of McNutt Hall until cleanup is completed.  The cause of the fire is yet to be determined, but investigators have not found anything suspicious related to this fire.

College/University (on campus), Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

La Crosse, WI – Residence hall fire contained by sprinkler system; No injuries reported

The La Crosse Fire Department responded to a fire call at 6:47 p.m. Thursday evening at UW La Crosse Eagle Hall.  An investigation revealed that an electrical fan malfunctioned directly below a sprinkler head, fire officials said.  The sprinkler contained the fire and crews were able to search the building and ventilate the smoke.  According to the press release, the fire and smoke damage was minimal.  No injuries were reported.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Columbia, SC – Electrical fire at Coliseum extinguished by sprinkler system

The University of South Carolina’s Carolina Coliseum was damaged in a fire Thursday morning.

Firefighters responded to an alarm at around 10:15 a.m. after a construction worker cut through a live wire he believed was turned off, causing electricity to arc and start a small fire, said Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins.

Nobody, including the worker who cut through the live wire, was injured, and by the time firefighters responded, the building’s sprinkler system had extinguished the fire, Jenkins said.

Jenkins called the fire “very minimal.” 

A commercial-size dryer at the 12,000-seat arena — which predominantly serves as a practice facility for the university’s basketball teams and houses the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management — was damaged, Jenkins said.

Though the building had smoke in it when firefighters arrived, the smoke did not cause damage to the building. It did, however, receive minor water damage from the sprinklers being activated.

Before Colonial Life Arena opened in 2002, basketball games and big concerts had been held at Carolina Coliseum since 1968. USC committed to renovating the building in 2017.

College/University (on campus), Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Indiana, PA – Overnight dorm room fire put out by sprinkler system; Vape stick apparent cause

No injuries were reported in a dorm room fire late Wednesday on the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus.  “The sprinkler system put it out, we didn’t have to,” Indiana Fire Association Assistant Chief Mike Empfield said this morning about the 11:22 p.m. call to Wallwork Hall, 455 Pratt Drive.  According to an Indiana Fire Association Facebook post, IUP police were first on the scene and reported a haze of smoke, and that the sprinkler had activated.

“(The) fire was started in the corner of a bed by what appears to be a vape stick,” according to the fire company’s post. “Damage was limited to smoke and heat by the bed and water damage from the sprinkler.”  Empfield said water damage was reported down a hallway of the dormitory.  “We shut the sprinkler system off and did a little ventilation,” the assistant fire chief said.  IUP police evacuated the building. Indiana County’s hazardous materials Team 900 and Citizens’ Ambulance Service also were dispatched.  Those called to the scene included IFA’s Ladder 106 unit whose seven-member interior firefighting crew includes five IUP students.  All crews were back in their stations shortly after midnight.

College/University (on campus), Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Keene, NH – Sprinkler system puts out fire in college residence hall

Firefighters say a small fire in a Keene State College dorm room was put out by a sprinkler system.  The fire department was dispatched shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday to the Pondside 1 Dormitory. There was no one in the room at the time of the fire. The cause and origin are being investigated. Damage is estimated at $10,000.  The three-story, 57-unit building houses 100 students and staff.

College/University (on campus), Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Boston, MA – Residence hall fire at Boston College contained with help from sprinkler system, No injuries reported

A fire broke out on the fourth floor of Welch Hall shortly after midnight last Tuesday morning. The fire was most likely due to a small refrigerator experiencing an electrical issue, according to Eric Fricke, a spokesman for the City of Newton Fire Department.

While the none of the room’s residents were injured, they will be relocated to a different room for the remainder of the year due to the damage the fire caused.

A number of rooms on the third and fourth floors experienced water damage because the sprinkler system activated, causing several dozen residents to be temporarily relocated. Overnight housing was provided to six Boston College students.

“Throughout the day, Facilities Services has worked to dry out the affected rooms using dehumidifiers and fans,” University Spokesman Jack Dunn said in an email. “They expect that all students, except those in the room where the fire started, will be able to return to their rooms by this evening.”

Investigators are still determining the reason that the fridge caught fire. Fricke said the refrigerator, which was placed under one of the residents’ beds and was not originally distributed by BC, caught on fire either because it was overfilled, leaving it without “room to breathe,” or because it short-circuited.

Welch residents were forced to wait outside shortly after the fire alarm went off. After a while, they were moved to McElroy Commons. Because the fire activated the sprinkler system, students were not allowed to return to Welch until 3 a.m. When one of the sprinkler heads goes off, the sprinkler company has to replace it, causing the students to be kept away from their dorms for a prolonged period of time.

A burnt bed frame, destroyed mattress, television, and mini fridge were outside of Welch this morning. Glass appeared to be missing from several of the top-floor windows. Fricke said that the windows may have cracked due to the heat of the fire, or firefighters breaking the windows for ventilation.

Fricke sees this incident as a teachable moment for students, which should encourage them to practice safety. He noted that improperly using power strips often causes fires on college campuses. “College students are kind of [unaware of risks],” Fricke said. “What ends up happening is they don’t appreciate the dangers.”

College/University (on campus), School / University

Thief River Falls, MN – Arson fire at college put out by sprinkler system

Two Northland College students are accused of setting fires in restrooms at the college on the same day. According to a news release from the Ashland Fire Department, both fires happened on March 19. A morning fire in a Wheeler Hall restroom was put out by a sprinkler system and an evening fire in a Fenenga Hall restroom extinguished itself. No one was injured in either fire. Damage estimates are not available. The fire department said two suspects, a 30-year-old woman from Ashland and an 18-year-old woman from the Twin Cities area, have been arrested to face possible charges of arson and recklessly endangering the safety of others. Investigators believe the suspects and fires are not connected.

College/University (on campus), School / University

Princeton, NJ – Fire at Princeton University chemistry lab contained to storage room by sprinkler system

Firefighters were called to campus early Friday morning to extinguish a fire that broke out in a third-floor storage room in the Frick Chemistry Laboratory. The building’s sprinkler system was activated and contained the flames to the storage room, where a firefighter was able to put them out with a fire extinguisher.

The cause was traced to a light fixture in the supply room that failed and ignited boxes of supplies on a storage rack, which held vials, pipes, and other chemical laboratory supplies but no hazardous materials, according to Assistant Vice President for Communications Dan Day.

A graduate student noticed the fire and called the Department of Public Safety at 1:39 a.m. Firefighters arrived on campus from the town of Princeton, Princeton Junction, the Princeton Plasma Plasma Physics Laboratory, Plainsboro, and Rocky Hill, according to a University statement.The building was briefly closed while firefighters were on scene but has now reopened.

According to Day, there is “a lingering odor in the area of the storage room” that cleanup crews are taking care of.

Water from the sprinkler system dripped from the third to the second floor, getting some papers and computers wet, but a University Facilities crew mopped up the water early in the morning. There was no significant structural or equipment damage in the building from the fire or from smoke, Day said.

College/University (on campus), Residence Hall/Dormitory, Residential

Grand Forks, ND – Fire in university residence hall caused by unattended candle extinguished by sprinkler system

The Grand Forks Fire Department says the cause of the fire reported at Walsh Hall on the campus of the University of North Dakota on March 2nd.

The newly released fire investigation report revealed an unattended candle ignited a towel handing nearby. The 5 to 6 foot flames from the candle, towel and cardboard stored near the bed, activated the fire alarm and sprinkler system.

Fire crews say residents tried to put out the fire with a wet towel but were not able to. The sprinkler system was able to extinguish the fire.

The activation of the sprinkler system in the dorm room minimized the building damage to only $35,000 with $500 of personal contents lost. Walsh Hall is valued at $2.5 million and has a total content value of $750,000.