Fire at UK’s College of Agriculture building causes ‘minimal damage,’ university says
A fire was reported at the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environment building Tuesday morning, the university said.
Approximately a dozen fire vehicles were dispatched to college’s Ag North Building shortly before 11:30 a.m. The building was evacuated and people were asked to avoid the area until an all clear was given, according to the university’s emergency alert system.
Crews arrived on scene and found no visible smoke or fire from outside the building, Maj. Derek Roberts with the Lexington Fire Department said. After investigating, they found a sprinkler going off and smoke in the building.
“We believe it was a small fire, limited to a lab in the building and there was minimal damage,” UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said.
In an update shortly after 11:30 a.m., UK said the fire had been “extinguished with minimal damage,” but there was water damage from the sprinklers being activated. The sprinkler extinguished a fire in the kiln area of the building, Roberts said.
No students were injured, and crews removed all smoke. The scene was then turned over to the UK fire marshal, Roberts said.
ServPro, a fire and water clean-up and restoration company, was on site Tuesday to help with water and smoke damage, said UK spokesperson Whitney Siddiqi.
“Some classes in or near the lab were canceled or relocated until cleaning is complete,” Siddiqi said. “The college is communicating with those students.”
The building is located at 1100 S. Limestone, near UK hospitals. Classes began at UK on Monday.
This is a developing story and may be updated with additional information.
This story was originally published August 22, 2023 at 11:42 AM.