A fire alarm went off in Holmes Hall when smoke filled the building between 8:30 and 9 p.m. March 4 after some students reported that a resident’s clothes got burnt in the laundry room.

Patrol Officer Ivan Cruz was on site and said he could not confirm if the smoke originated from the laundry room. Cruz said the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management moved all students out of the building and controlled the smoke while the fire department arrived.

“Once we got the smoke under control, we just did a quick sweep of the building before the fire department got here [to] make sure no one was in their rooms and everyone [was] evacuated [safely],” Cruz said. “And once that was cleared, we let the fire department do their thing.”

Junior Isabella Sloan, a resident assistant in Holmes Hall, was in the building when the fire alarm went off. Sloan said she helped residents evacuate the building and could easily notice the smoke coming from the laundry room.

“The lobby was fully smoky,” Sloan said. “You [could] look into the laundry room from the lobby and see the glass was all smoked up and stuff like that.”

Sloan said residents waited outside for about 30 to 40 minutes before OPS said it was safe for them to go back inside. She said that about 15 minutes after OPS evacuated students out of the building, the firefighters arrived.

Sloan said the laundry room has been a cause of concern for some time now. There is a previously reported record of clothes overheating in the dryer in Bogart Hall from Feb. 8, according to Public Safety Logs. 

“My clothes have gotten burned, a lot of my residents have gotten burned,” Sloan said. “I’ve talked to my boss about a lot, so I’m hoping we’re gonna see some change with Res Life.”

Cruz advised students to be more aware of gadgets that could potentially cause fires in the future.

“I guess I would say make sure that you guys are careful when doing laundry and anything to do with electronics or electrical outlets, things of that nature,” Cruz said.