Benson Earth Sciences building evacuated due to smoke

The Benson Earth Sciences building was evacuated around 9 a.m. today after a fire alarm was pulled in response to large amounts of smoke filling the inside of the building.

Four fire trucks, an ambulance and a police car arrived at the scene to assess the situation and found that the issue was that a mechanical room in the basement was unleashing smoke.

Laura Lapham, a 20-year-old history major, said that she and her classmates were evacuated from their lab when fire alarms sounded around 9 a.m.

“We all grabbed our coats and came [outside],” Lapham said. “We haven’t really been told anything,”

Paul Boni, laboratory coordinator and building proctor, said that he received a phone call that the Benson Earth Sciences building was filled with haze that smelt like “burning rubber.”

“I went to check it out and sure enough something was obviously failing,” Boni said. “So we pulled the fire alarm and went outside and called 9-1-1.

After firefighters inspected the mechanical room in the basement, they found that an air dryer, which is a humidity control device, was “belching out all kinds of steam,” Boni said.

“It looked like you were in the London fog,” Boni said.

Plumbers are currently working on the device in the mechanical room and students and faculty were allowed back inside the building around 9:40 a.m.

Contact CU Independent News Editor Nora Keating at Nora.keating@colorado.edu.