A lab at the University of Maryland College Park was damaged by an electrical fire Monday afternoon that was extinguished by firefighters, Prince George's County Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady said.
With the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday, there were a limited number of people in the J.M. Patterson Building on Regents Drive, and they were evacuated safely, he said. No chemicals or hazardous materials were involved, although the Fire Departmentn's Hazardous Materials Team was alerted as a precaution, he said.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze, which involved electrical equipment, in a second-floor lab around 3:15 p.m. The building's sprinkler system activated and kept the fire in check until firefighters extinguished it and then remained on the scene to ventilate smoke from the building, he said.
Calling the damage considerable, Brady said the estimated loss is still being determined.
Copyright 2012 - The Baltimore Sun
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
