Pajama-clad residents of Jarvis Dormitory waited in front of their building until after 2 a.m. Thursday morning as fire fighters responded to an alarm from the utility tunnel below the building.
The Durham Fire Department received the call at approximately 12:45 a.m. Thursday. By the time fire fighters responded to the scene, the tunnel's sprinklers had almost completely extinguished the fire. fire fighters only had to use a fire extinguisher, but the tunnel remained filled with dense smoke.
A fluorescent light in the utility tunnel under Jarvis caused the fire, said Lt. Tom Gustafson of the Duke University Police Department. The light burned out and overheated, which caused the plastic cover in the fixture to melt and drip down, igniting a box of combustible material on the tunnel floor.
As students evacuated the building, the smoke they saw made the fire seem much larger than it actually was.
"It looked like we had a chimney, and then it looked like we had five chimneys all along the back of the building," said freshman Joanna Hundley, a resident of Jarvis.
The smoke traveled because the tunnels carried it through ventilation systems, Gustafson said, noting that it also triggered the fire alarm in Carr Building.
"The rest of the smoke just traveled up through [Jarvis]," he said. "It was light smoke but enough to irritate the throat."
No students reported injuries, and damages were confined to the tunnel. fire fighters cleared the building of smoke before students could re-enter.
Although the fire was small, fire officials appreciated that students responded to the fire alarm and left the building immediately.
"The students performed excellently," Capt. William Towner said. "They evacuated without hassle and took it seriously. If we can do the little stuff, we hope we can do the big stuff."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.