Fire alarm set off at HPER Building
The cause of smoke and smell thought to originate in HPER Building, Room 215 caused an estimated 300 students, faculty and staff to be evacuated Thursday afternoon. The cause has not yet been determined.
Bill Bauer, campus recreation facility coordinator, said he called Facilities when a strange smell was reported. Bauer said he began looking for the cause, and when Howard Bee of the Facilities electronics’ shop arrived it was decided to pull the fire alarm.
“It was the right move,” Bauer said.
Deanne Williams, director of campus recreation, said, “The alarm scared me for a second.”
Evacuation of the building took less than five minutes, Williams said.
Lynn Naylor, with the Logan City Fire Department, said the firefighters arrived at 2:07 p.m. and the building was already evacuated. Williams said the student staff did a great job in helping everyone evacuate.
“We have a good evacuation plan. I’m proud of our kids,” Williams said.
Naylor said firefighters entered the building to search for the source of the smoke and smell. He said the crews used heat monitors and a camera to search for the cause but were unable to determine the cause. The smell seemed electrical and he said it was a strong possibility a light ballast caused the smoke and smell.
“The problem is common to a ballast. We were initially worried there was a hidden fire, but so far nothing has been found,” Naylor said.
Loren Finn, a graduate student conducting his master’s project this week, said Room 215 is the biomechanics and dance room. Finn needs equipment in the biomechanics room to complete his master’s thesis.
“There is only one biomechanics lab on campus. Had something happened to the room it would have complicated my thesis project,” Finn said.
After the fire department determined no immediate threat existed, everyone was allowed to reenter the building. The Environmental Health and Safety office continued to search for the cause of the smoke.
Steve Bilbao, Environmental Health and Safety associate director, said the light ballast was cool and probably was not the cause of the smoke and smell but Facilities would replace the light that was out.
“From what we looked at it doesn’t appear to be the ballast,” Bilbao said.
Bilbao speculated the smell and smoke could have been caused by welding done on the utility tunnel project on the east side of the HPER Building. Air intakes near the construction project could have caused the smell and smoke to enter the building, Bilbao said. Similar occurrences are common with construction and cars someone smoking near an air intake can cause a similar problem, Bilbao said.