Elon students, faculty and staff are back inside after the town of Elon Fire Department evacuated Elon University’s School of Communications for almost 40 minutes Friday afternoon following a call from campus security.
Town of Elon Fire Chief Landon Massey said the call came in at 12:39 p.m. and three fire trucks arrived at the McEwen Communications Building and Schar building two minutes later.
Elon senior Reilly Galloway, an employee at The Gear Room, which is housed on the first floor of the McEwen building, said he and his co-workers smelled an odd smell. He said they initially thought it was burning plastic.
The team called campus security. He said that campus security told him they believed the smell was an electrical fire. Shortly after, the fire alarms went off and students, faculty and staff were evacuated from the building.
A mini-fridge in The Gear Room malfunctioned, emitting a “fire-type smell,” according to Massey.
Firefighters removed the fridge and cleared the building at roughly 1:20 p.m., allowing students and faculty to re-enter.
Galloway said the fire had nothing to do with how The Gear Room structures its gear. He said he believes it was due to the power strip the fridge was plugged into being overloaded. He said the strip has been used since before his time at Elon.
“I feel a lot safer,” Galloway said. “I was definitely worried when I first smelt it. As a gear room employee, I do not want that to happen. But, luckily, now the problem is removed.”