DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Associate Director of Risk Management and Safety Herbert Wagner discusses causes of a fire that caught in a sculpture kiln yesterday in the Art building. The fire was contained within the kiln, but alarms caused students to be evacuated and fire and emergency crews to be called to the scene.

Small kiln fire causes cancelled classes, but minimal damage

The Art building, 1031 N. Olive Road, was evacuated around 11 a.m. yesterday when wax buildup in a kiln ignited a small fire, officials said.

A bronze casting class was melting the wax off their ceramic molds when the wax buildup in the kiln caught fire, said Carlton Bradford, sculpture instructor and shop technician.

The small fire was more smoke than flames and was put out immediately by the kiln's internal fire suppression system, said Bradford, who was in the building at the time.

Bradford said the machine was thoroughly cleaned last week and the fire was a rarity for the department.

"I've been here two years and this is the first time I've seen anything like this happen ... it was an accident," Bradford said.

As a precaution, the building was evacuated to ensure the safety of the students, said Deputy Chief Randy Ogden, Tucson Fire Department spokesman.

"The wax built up and produced smoke which set off the alarm. There really was minimal damage," Ogden said.

The fire left chemical dust that was cleaned up by UA Risk Management.

No one was injured in the fire and it was completely contained within the kiln, Ogden said.

The kiln was in the basement of the Art building near the loading docks.

Everyone from the building was let back in as soon as police and fire officials deemed the building safe to reenter, Ogden said.

"The building was only evacuated for 15 or 20 minutes," said Herb Wagner, associate director for UA Risk Management and Safety.

The Theatre Arts building, near the Art building, was also briefly evacuated.

Bradford said the fire called attention to the fact the suppression system is not hooked into the alarm system and did not contact TFD.

The kiln has an internal suppression which works like a fire extinguisher. When the machine gets to a certain temperature, the system is activated and a dry chemical is dropped on the flames to put them out. The gas is shut off - which shuts off the kiln - and the fire is contained, Wagner said.

Since TFD wasn't automatically called, Bradford called immediately after the fire started.

"Had it gotten out of control, the building's sprinkler system would have taken over," Wagner said.

During the incident, Risk Management found the system is not tied in with the building's alarm system and did not set off the alarm or call the fire department, Wagner said.

"We are working to get systems for the kilns hooked into the fire alarm system for the art building," Wagner said.

Jil Morley, a studio art sophomore, was supposed to have a quiz in the building and no one warned her or her classmates about going inside.

"We heard the alarm on the way to class, but we thought it was in the next building," Morley said.

"A woman came in and said, 'You guys need to get out, we have fire trucks here,'" Morley said.

Morley said no one really said anything to her or other people in the area and after sitting for about 30 minutes everyone just began to disperse.