Firefighters responded to a small electrical fire at McKeldin Library on Monday, April 27, 2015.
A small electrical fire forced students and staff to evacuate McKeldin Library yesterday morning, police officials said.
Fire alarms went off at 9:30 a.m. after an electrical breaker in a basement mechanical room started to smoke, said Eric Bartheld, University Libraries spokesman. The problem might have involved the library’s heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, but responders could not confirm the fire’s cause.
Multiple fire engines and firefighters arrived on the scene, and officials cleared staff and faculty to re-enter the library at about 10:22 a.m.
“There was quite a bit of smoke,” Bartheld said. “We expect it to smell like smoke for a day or two.”
There were no injuries reported and the fire caused minimal damage, according to a College Park Fire Department tweet. Bartheld said it is too early to know the cost of the damages.
Several workers in the library’s basement offices, including those from the preservation department, Digital Systems and Stewardship and the downstairs help desk, said they did not see or smell anything at the time of the fire.
While working on McKeldin’s third floor, Wei Yi said he heard multiple alarms go off and called the police, who advised him to leave. He headed down the stairs near the back and exited through a basement door.
“The fire alarm just next to me kept beeping,” said Yi, a doctoral candidate studying second-language acquisition. “When I went downstairs through the stairs, I smelled something that was not that great. It smelled like an electronic fire.”
Officials are investigating the cause of the fire, Bartheld said.
