An electrical fire in one of the dryers on the first floor of Cromwell Hall caused a fire to start in the laundry room on Tuesday, Oct. 2 forcing students and staff to evacuate the building.
The fire alarm went off at 2 p.m. and students were allowed to re-enter the building between 3:30 and 3:45 p.m.
Re-entrance to the building was delayed because the fire department had to ventilate all the smoke that had collected in the hallway of the first floor.
No one was in the laundry room when the fire started, and there was no permanent damage done to the laundry room. However, the room was shut down for 24 hours while the faulty plug was replaced.
According to Elizabeth Spohr, Residence Director of Cromwell Hall, the response time of the students evacuating the building was surprisingly slow.
She said most students used the center stairway instead of the emergency exits closest to their rooms.
"We were pretty surprised at the response time of the students," Spohr said. "When an alarm goes off you have to assume that it's a real fire."
"In the future, we would like to see students exit the building much more swiftly using the appropriate exits," she said.
