A malfunctioning heat unit caused a small fire at a residence hall on Slippery Rock University’s campus overnight.
At 3 a.m. Friday, the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company and Rescue Team were called to SRU Building F- which is a dorm- to investigate a possible fire. Crews say they initially found smoke and traced it back to a faulty heating unit in one of the rooms that was smoking.
There were no actual flames, according to a university spokesman.
Firefighters say they removed the faulty heating unit and then ventilated the building of smoke. About 350 students live in that dorm. They were evacuated and housed in Watson Hall to stay out of the cold.
Firefighters were on scene for about one hour. No one was injured.
“It wasn’t a huge deal, but it could have been,” Slippery Rock Fire Chief Ryan Hanchosky said.
Also last night, firefighters were called to the Vincent Science Center on SRU’s campus to a small heating unit in the ceiling that was smoking. That situation was also quickly contained.
“There were two different calls in two different buildings,” Hanchosky said.
Slippery Rock University’s campus re-opened on Friday after being closed for two days due to the extreme cold.
