Electrical fire disrupts class

An electrical fire on the third floor of Jordan Hall yesterday forced students and faculty out of the building, delaying classes for nearly half an hour.\nBloomington police and fire units responded to the scene shortly after 1 p.m. Students in the Strome/Saxton lab on the third floor entered the cold room across the hall and detected smoke coming from the room, according to Stephen Todd, director of facilities and laboratory services for the biology department.\nThe smoke was caused by an overheated light fixture in one of the building's cold rooms. Research associate Deborah Rose said the rooms are normally reserved for storing plates, solvents and other research materials at a constant temperature.\n"The people using the room just saw smoke spilling out into the hallway," Rose said. "With the building as old as it is, it was just a good idea (to pull the alarm)."\nStudents and faculty were allowed back into the building after police and fire units had secured the area around 1:30 p.m. Third floor access was restricted for some time, allowing people to re-enter the floor except the east corridor, Todd said.\n"We let the environmental and health safety department in there to determine what the problem was before we let anyone back in," Todd said.\nThe disturbance pulled administrator Jennifer Steinbachs from her office on the third floor, who said she was only told there was an incident on the floor. Steinbachs is the deputy director for the center for the genomics and bioinformatics.\nSenior April Stratton was told by police that she could re-enter the building but must stay off the third floor.\n"Considering radiation was involved, I don't think we should have class today," Stratton said.\nEarly speculation of the fire included thoughts that radioactive material could have been involved. As a precaution, the facilities administrators removed everyone from the building. \nBut Rose said the building was in no danger of radioactive material. \n"We are certified to use radioactive materials, but we currently don't," she said. "It was still the right thing to do by sounding the alarm. It could have been a solvent or something burning.\n"When I was at the University of Georgia, I saw an entire wing of a building go down. It was just a good idea to make sure everything was all right"