Herty evacuated, no threat

Fire trucks, police cars and an ambulance blocked off North Wilkinson Street in front of Herty Hall as the building was completely evacuated Monday after the fire alarm activated in response to smoke in the building. The cause of the smoke, however, was not a fire or a chemical explosion as many circulating rumors claimed but a belt on an air conditioning heating unit.

“(The unit) was in (room) 130. The alarm went off on 338 and it went up through shaft,” Tom Dietrich, Milledgeville fire department chief said. “It was a belt that was broke and wrapped around the motor and just got all twisted up and as the motor was spinning, the rubber on the belt was just disintegrating.”

A strong odor accompanied the smoke which further concerned professors and students. Professor Harriet Whipple was teaching when the alarm went off.

“When we came out, we could smell and knew this was real,” Whipple said. “When I first heard the alarm I said ‘Oh heck I didn’t know there was going to be a fire alarm today.’ Then we came out and smelled something I said, ‘Oh my god I better get out.’”

Everyone in Herty Hall was able to exit the building without starting a panic or sustaining any casualties.

“The smoke detector did what it was supposed to do and everybody exited the building,” Dietrich said. “It was just one of those things that happens from time to time. It happens everywhere, not just here. Unfortunate that it happened, but everything that’s in place with the smoke detectors and everything, people followed what they were supposed to do. We got a call and we showed up and did what we were supposed to do.”

The contents of the chemistry labs were of concern due to the large amounts of flammable substances in them.

Bryan Jackson from university communications was on the scene.

“Part of the concern is you’ve got various chemicals, so they generally don’t want to send a bunch of people into the building until they’ve identified what kind of substances we’re dealing with,” Jackson said.

Other than the air conditioning unit, the building did not receive any other damage. The smoke was blown out with ventilation fans by the firefighters.

“We had to ventilate all the smoke out,” Dietrich said. “Ventilating up is the easiest way, so we opened up stairwells and a hatch on the top and blew air into it so that ventilated relatively quick. Then we shut those doors and opened the door downstairs on the level 100 floor, and so that took a little bit longer because things rise just naturally. When it went in and had to blow down, it took longer.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 27 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry