A brush fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon in a vent outside of Huntington Beard Crouse Hall, forcing students in the building to leave their classes.

The fire started when someone flicked a lit cigarette butt into one of the air ventilators on the ground between HBC and the Hall of Languages, said John Stubbs, Syracuse Fire Department district chief. The lit cigarette fell into a pile of mulch and leaves, sparking a small brush fire, he said.

The fire department received a call about the fire at about 3 p.m., Stubbs said, at which point two fire trucks and one mini-engine arrived at the scene. All fire department personnel left the scene at 3:30 p.m.

Earlier that day, a fire alarm went off in HBC at 2 p.m., said Ryan Hackett, a sophomore political science and international relations major. When the fire alarm went off again at about 3 p.m. for the actual fire, Hackett said he and other students in HBC left the building slowly, believing it wasn’t serious.

“We turn around and we see a white smoke coming below HBC, and the fire truck shows up, and they started charging the hoses trying to extinguish it,” Hackett said.

He described there being a light amount of smoke, but still noticeable.

Though classes located in the basement floor were told to evacuate, no one was injured and no classes were canceled, Stubbs said. The amount of smoke emitted by the fire was most likely compounded by wind, making the fire appear much worse than it was, Stubbs said.

He advised students to become more careful of where they deposit their cigarettes.

“The fire could have been prevented if students were allowed to smoke in more areas on campus,” said Colleen Kepler, building coordinator of HBC. “Smoking near the side of the building like that is a fire hazard.”

Kepler said the university used to have cigarette butt receptacles located near many building entrances on campus, but due to complaints by non-smoking students, the receptacles were removed.

The university’s Campus Sustainability Committee has created a task force to explore the possibility of making SU a smoke-free campus after a survey showed that many students oppose smoking.

If SU became a smoke-free campus, Kepler said students would be forced to smoke in more hazardous locations.

The task force is still determining the current number of tobacco users on campus.

Published on October 8, 2013 at 7:05 pm

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu