A kitchen fire in Lakeside Village near Lobby A caused disruption Thursday afternoon, as fire alarms and sprinklers activated around 3:45 p.m. on April 2.
An emergency alert was sent to students at 4:11 p.m., stating, “Fire alarm activation at Lakeside Village. Fire and Police are on scene. Building is partially evacuated. Avoid the area.”
Some students evacuated the building, but not all residents were able to hear the fire alarms.
“It was the dorm across from mine,” said a student who wishes to remain unnamed. “I was studying in the porch room on the corner of Lakeside when I heard the alarm. I went back toward my room, but I couldn’t get in because there was black liquid oozing from under the door into the hallway. It smelled a little funky.”
Water began pouring out of the patio areas on floor six of Lakeside above Smoothie King. The water came down for around 20 minutes.
No injuries have been reported. However, water reached as low as the first floor of the building.
Affected rooms include “apartments ending in X100- x105, x115 – x128, x090-x092, & X097 on all floors,” according to an email sent to Lakeside residents and a statement from the University of Miami.
All other residents were permitted to return to their rooms before 6 p.m.
According to a firefighter leaving the scene, the fire originated in an apartment on the sixth floor and did not spread beyond that unit.
At 5:08 p.m., a follow-up alert from UM confirmed the situation was under control.
“Fire has given the all clear at Lakeside Village. Area is reopened. Impacted residents will be contacted directly by Housing & Residential Life. Final update.”
The statement also said, “The Coral Gables Fire Department immediately responded quickly and the fire was extinguished while the building was temporarily evacuated. Our Facilities team was immediately responsive and is now overseeing restoration and remediation following the incident.”
At the time of publication, the University has not yet provided information about where students from the affected rooms will be relocated to.
A student who wishes to remain unnamed who lives in one of the affected rooms told The Hurricane that Housing and Residential Life called her to let her know she would be relocated to THesis hotel for the weekend.
Martina Pantaleon and Emil Salgado Vazquez contributed to the reporting of this article.