Breaking News: Engineering Center evacuated

According to a CU Campus new release the Engineering Center is in the process of being evacuated, and a HAZMAT investigation is taking place. The cause of the evacuation, which occurred around 4:30 p.m., is still unknown.

Kate Kennedy, a 19-year-old aerospace engineering major, was in the Integrated Teaching and Learning wing of the building when alarms went off.

“I could barely hear the alarms, since it was a study area, but I eventually left the building to be surprised by all the fire trucks and cops,” Kennedy said.

Alexa Jellison, a 21-year-old civil engineering major, also had to leave the building.

“I was in the computer lab when the alarms started going off, and right away the whole building was evacuated,” Jellison said. “I believe it might have been a gas leak.”

There is no estimate to when the building will reopen, according to a campus alert email.

“These seem to happen at least once a semester,” Jellison said. “This could be 5 minutes or 5 hours, you never really know.”

This is the second time this year an evacuation has occurred in the Engineering Center. A chemical spill closed the building for hours in March.

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Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Zachary Cook at Zachary.cook@colorado.edu and Breaking News Editor Bethany Morris at Bethany.morris@colorado.edu.

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