BREAKING: Peck Hall, Science West both temporarily evacuated within hours of each other

Peck Hall was evacuated due to a small fire after smoke alarms activated at 11:10 a.m. Tuesday.

Associate Director of Facilities Management Donna Meyer said the fire was caused by the elevator.

“The east elevator, in front of the stairs in Peck, had a motor that burned up, if you will. It failed and it caused enough smoke to trigger the fire alarm,” Meyer said. “That’s why the building was evacuated.”

SIUE Fire Department arrived on the scene, but according to the police department, the fire had extinguished itself by then.

The building was deemed safe for return at 11:45 a.m., according to Vance McCracken, interim Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, which is based in Peck Hall.

Meyer said the elevator in Peck Hall will be out of order until Facilities Management can repair it. Until the main elevator is back in operation, the smaller, second elevator to the left of the entrance is still available.

Shortly before 1 p.m. just a few hours later,, Science West was also evacuated. Meyer said this evacuation was because of a ventilation failure. 

“Science West has several labs with the fume hoods and they are part of the ventilation to make sure there’s fresh air in the building,” Meyer said. “It stopped working because an air compressor was off. When it quits working for any long period of time, the building needs to be evacuated.”

As of 3 p.m., the ventilation system was restored and Science West was also deemed safe to re-enter.