Fire damages third floor of USU’s Animal Science building
Officials say an air conditioning unit on the third floor of Utah State University’s Animal Science building was the source of a fire Wednesday night.
Logan City fire marshal Craig Humphreys said the fire heavily damaged a third floor office, with smoke damage extending to the rest of the floor.
“On a scale of one to 10 that single office is a nine. The rest of the floor is maybe a two,” he said.
USU Police Department captain Steve Milne said the Utah Fire Marshal’s office had been notified and would be on campus as soon as possible to confirm the fire was in fact caused by the office’s air conditioning unit.
He anticipates the third floor of the building will be closed tomorrow while an assessment is made.
For now, Milne said he does not suspect foul play.
Though the building was built in 1917, Humphreys and Milne said they didn’t think its age played a significant role in causing the fire.
“A lot of these buildings are kind of old buildings. They’ve been remodeled on top of remodeled on top of remodeled and each time they try to make sure that it’s done to code,” Milne said. “I think that helped prevent the fire from spreading.”
Anna Quach, a statistics PhD student, was one of the few in the building when the alarm went off.
“I heard the alarm and I just walked around to see if there was any smoke or fire and I didn’t see anything,” Quach said.
Despite not seeing or smelling any signs of the fire, Quach said she decided to pack up her stuff and leave anyway.
Milne said it was fortunate the fire occurred at night, with few people building, but the event should serve as a reminder to students to be aware of their surroundings.
“Know where your exits are in case there is a fire, in the event you have to evacuate,” Milne said.
According to the university’s website, the damaged office belongs to Pata Rujirawat, a lecturer in the mathematics and statistics department.
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Photo by Matt Halton