On Tuesday morning, an electrical malfunction in the first floor of Marston Science Library set off fire alarms.
Students were ordered to evacuate all floors of both Marston and the computer sciences and engineering building after the first string of alarms sounded at 8:28 a.m., and the building smelled like smoke. Ambulances, police cars and fire trucks then arrived at the scene.
Michael Steele, district chief for the Gainesville Fire Rescue, said his team received a call for “a commercial building fire,” but the actual situation was a technical hiccup likely due to the construction happening nearby.
“We came in and evaluated,” Steele said, “We found no hazards, reset the alarm system, cleared the building and then it was all turned back over to me.”
The alarms initially stopped at 8:50 a.m, and some students re-entered the computer sciences and engineering building. At 8:54 a.m., the alarms momentarily went off again. However, Steele said this was intentionally done to make sure everything was back in order and the reset was successful.
By 9:10 a.m., the crews began to clear the scene, and Steele said everything was “good to go now”.
Contact Daniela Peñafiel at dpenafiel@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @dpenafiel_
Daniela is a graphic designer starting her first semester on The Alligator. She enjoys all kinds of art, and in her free time, she's likely to be animating or watching documentaries.
