An electrical malfunction in a piece of research equipment at the Information Technology Engineering building led to a fire alarm and then evacuation. UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said there was no actual fire. (The Daily Campus)
The Information Technology Engineering building at the University of Connecticut was evacuated Friday afternoon after a fire alarm was activated by an electrical malfunction in a piece of research equipment.
At approximately 12:05 p.m., the heat and smell of the equipment on the third floor of the building set off the fire alarm automatically.
The UConn fire department also received a call about the matter and soon reported to the scene.
“There was no actual fire, there was a light haze in the air on one of the floors” Stephanie Reitz, UConn’s spokeswoman said.
The building was quickly evacuated without incident.
“Friday afternoons are light on classes, the evacuation was quick and easy,” Reitz said.
The evacuation interrupted classes for about an hour that afternoon.
“I got there after the alarm had been rung, I was confused,” Nicholas Fox, a first-semester mechanical engineering major who was at ITE for his economics class shortly after the fire department had arrived, said.
The piece of equipment was removed and the affected section of the building was ventilated.
Shortly after 1 p.m. the building was cleared for people to reenter and classes resumed running normally.
Anna Zarra Aldrich is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at anna.aldrich@uconn.edu. She tweets @ZarraAnna.