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News Release
Contact: Joe King, Office of Public Affairs
(815) 753-4299
May 23, 2005
Fire damages Engineering Building lab
DeKALB , Ill. – Clean up continues today at the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology after fire damaged a laboratory late Saturday night.
Damage from the blaze was contained to one chamber of a first floor “clean room” where students and faculty work to create microelectronics parts. Preliminary indications are that the fire was caused by an electrical short. No official estimate of damages was available this morning.
“All safety systems – alarms, sprinkles and all other safety systems – functioned as they were supposed to,” said Promod Vohra, acting dean of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. “Because of that, damage was limited to just a portion of one of the 29 laboratories in the building.”
First word of the fire came at about 11:34 p.m. , Saturday, when an alarm sounded in the building and at the NIU Department of Public Safety, which immediately dispatched units from the DeKalb Fire Department. Due to concerns about the potential for hazardous materials in the building, DeKalb summoned assistance from fire departments in Sycamore, Cortland, Malta, Rochelle, Waterman and Elburn, said DeKalb Fire Chief Lanny Russell.
Shortly after firefighters arrived, they entered the building along with NIU Building Services personnel, who shut off the sprinkler system. When firefighters entered the laboratory, the fire already was out. The call passed without further incident, Russell said.
All damage, both from the blaze and from the sprinkler system, was limited to the machine and the surrounding portion of the chamber of the clean room, said Mike Saari, director of the NIU Physical Plant. The building was ventilated overnight and reopened Sunday afternoon, Saari said.
University officials will work with insurance adjusters to determine the full extent of the damage and begin repairs.
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