Friday September 14, 2001

Leaking elevator fluid deemed cause of incident

Hundreds of students were evacuated from McClelland Hall yesterday afternoon after smoke was detected in the northwest section of the building, officials said.

Sgt. Mike Smith of the University of Arizona Police Department said the department received a report at 2:45 p.m. of an activated fire alarm at the building.

According to UAPD officials, the incident had no connection to a suspicious phone message left Wednesday.

UAPD Cmdr. Brian Seastone said an employee at the building received an answering-machine message Wednesday asking how many Muslims were in the building.

Smith said firefighters detected an electrical burning odor and the building was safely evacuated.

Tucson Fire Department Chief Brad Olson said firefighters scanned the building with thermal imaging cameras, which detect extreme heat. Smith said that upon inspection of the building, personnel discovered the smoke was coming from the elevators.

"The elevators run on hydraulic fluid, and the fluid was leaking," Smith said. "The fluid is hot, and it dripped on the wires and they began to smoke."

Smith said there was no report of anyone in the elevators at the time it began to smoke.

Mark Zupan, dean of business and public administration, said that after speaking with fire officials, he decided to cancel all classes in the building for the rest of the day.

Merrilee Holmes, facilities manager for McClelland Hall, said all 16 classrooms in the building were in use at the time the alarm sounded.

After the source was identified and the situation was deemed safe, the university's Risk Management and Safety department, UAPD and TFD reopened the building to students and staff.

As a safety procedure, Helen Street was closed from Fremont Avenue to Santa Rita Avenue for most of the afternoon. The underpass near Helen Street was also closed off to pedestrians, and pedestrians and motorists were re-routed around the closed-off areas.