News

Oven causes fire in UW lab

Damage caused by blaze in engineering building to cost $10K

The University of Wisconsin Engineering Centers Building was evacuated Saturday after routine research practices resulted in an oven fire that triggered smoke detectors.

The fire occurred in the Chesler Laboratory of Vascular Tissue Biomechanics, a laboratory within the Department of Biomedical Engineering, according to Research Assistant Alejandro Roldan.

Although Roldan was not present at the time of the fire, he said it occurred after a colleague placed pipettes in an oven to dry them after use, but because the temperature was set incorrectly, the equipment burned.

“The pipettes burned and that flame burned the seal of the oven, which created the smoke,” Roldan said. “It was so smoky it activated all the alarms, everything.”

The Madison Fire Department and UW Police Department arrived at the building shortly after the alarm was triggered, according to university officials.

According to a police report, the fire was contained to the oven and self extinguished, although damage to the laboratory due to soot, smoke and some water is expected to cost up to $10,000 to repair.

The report says several computers and microscopes were damaged.

However, Roldan said he believed this estimate to be overblown as most of the damage consisted of ash from the fire being blown around the room.

He said much of the expensive equipment in the laboratory, such as a fume hood, went undamaged.

Roldan added the laboratory was back in working order Monday, when employees were able to return to their normal research tasks after a brief cleaning of the room.

According to an e-mail sent to engineering faculty by Department of Biomedical Engineering Chair Robert Radwin, the damage was contained to one laboratory, although minimal water damage occurred in the auto shop a floor below.

According to Roldan, researchers in the Vascular Tissue Biomechanics Laboratory study models of pulmonary hypertension in mice.

He said their research involves the mechanical properties of blood vessels.

According to the e-mail, none of the mice were injured.

No employees were in the laboratory at the time of the fire.