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The Boston Fire Department responded Thursday evening at about 6:50 p.m. to reports of smoke from an overheated motor inside Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences building, said BFD spokesman Steve MacDonald.
Seven fire engines arrived on the scene, and two trucks raised their ladders to the roof on the east side of the CAS building. Students, faculty and staff inside the building were evacuated, and no injuries were reported.
MacDonald said the overheated motor generated a little smoke, but it was not a fire.
“These things happen from time to time with motors. [They] generate smoke and give off the smell of something burning, but the good news is, it wasn’t a fire and no injuries,” he said.
Boston University engineers helped take care of the damaged motor, MacDonald said.
“Typically, [when] you would find an overheated motor, we just shut the power off to it,” he said. “That immediately stops it from smoking, and then we called the maintenance or engineering department to take care of it.”
Around 7:15 p.m., BFD left the scene and allowed students to return to the building.
Manuel Menendez, a student at the Metropolitan College, said he was in class shortly before the evacuation.
“We had a fire fighter inside tell us to come outside, and then the fire alarm went off,” he said. “We came outside and now we are just waiting here.”
Filiz Yusbasioglu, a senior in Sargent College, said she had not experienced an evacuation such as this before, but she feels as though it’s happened in the past.
“This was a big interruption because I was in class, and I mostly feel inconvenienced and cold,” she said. “I also feel like this has happened before.”
J.D. Capelouto and Mina Corpuz contributed to the reporting of this article.
