A little before 3:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, residents and students in class rooms in Hubbard Hall heard the familiar sound of a fire alarm ringing throughout the building.
“I thought it was a drill at first, to be honest,” said mechanical engineering freshman Cameron Ploss.
Then he left his dorm to see a hallway, the fourth floor of South Hubbard Hall, filled with smoke.
The residents of both South and North Hubbard halls packed into the ground floor of North Hubbard, which had a pungent odor of smoke, to await clearance to return to their dorms.
Residents packed into North Hubbard while fire dept. Investogates. The area smells like smoke. @thesnews pic.twitter.com/YWD6pPJ9Ay
Some did not even see the smoke while leaving their floors.
“I wasn’t really paying attention, I was more running down the stairs,” said Robbie Stevens, who was visiting a friend at MSU.
Rumors spread quickly through the packed crowds. Many residents saw smoke on their dorm floors, however the common consensus, confirmed by Valarie James, the assistant community director of Hubbard Hall, was that the fire had started in the basement.
Lt. Chuck Gagnier, of East Lansing Fire Department, said that the fire was a common dryer fire in South Hubbard, and that the fire department was able to quickly put the fire out.
Firetrucks, ambulances and police are outside South Hubbard Hall investigating fire alarm. @thesnews pic.twitter.com/lN68692uPK
However, the smoke did not stay isolated in the basement, finding a way to climb to the top of the building through the ventilation system.
An hour and a half after the alarm was first pulled, residents were allowed back into South Hubbard Hall by facilities manager of East Neighborhood Chip Hornburg. They were not allowed into the basement because firefighters were still cleaning the area of the fire, which smoldered large parts of the ceiling.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
