Small fires damage UI's Iowa Advanced Technical Laboratories building
A second small fire damaged the University of Iowa's Advanced Technical Laboratories building late Friday morning.
The fire was the second in as many days as firefighters again used buzzsaws to remove small parts of the siding and hosed down the heated metal exterior of the building.
First responders were dispatched to the metallic building north of the Iowa Memorial Union at 1:07 p.m. on Thursday after a staff member smelled burning wood and noticed smoke coming from steel panels on an outside wall. That staff member went back inside and pulled a fire alarm.
Emergency vehicles quickly responded, jamming up Madison Street as firefighters, paramedics and police flocked to the scene.
Damage was severe on a small portion of a west-facing wall in an inlet and near an entrance. The cause of each fire and the cost of the damages are unknown, the UI Campus Safety said in a report posted late Thursday.
A Hawk Alert sent out at 1:31 p.m. warned students to stay out of the area, but the all-clear was given less than half an hour later, at 1:57 p.m.
Several students stopped outside the Iowa Memorial Union to watch first responders extinguish the fire.
The same was true on Friday, as a small group of students stopped along the north side of the building overlooking the damaged inlet in the laboratories building. Students were advised to avoid the area just before 11 a.m. on Friday, but firefighters had the situation under control in a few minutes.
The Advanced Technical Laboratories is home to the University of Iowa Technology Institute, previously known as the Center for Computer-Aided Design (CCAD). The program was founded in 1981 by Professor Edward J. Haug.
The ITI is a part of the College of Engineering. The advanced technologies building his home to 30 research labs and more than 200 faculty, students and collaborators. According to the ITI’s website, lab technicians are busy studying flight testing and human performance as well as human modeling and simulation. The building also hosts studies on robotics, biomedical and biochemical science, renewable energy and engineering.
No injuries were reported.
Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Fires damage Iowa Advanced Technical Laboratories
