Students evacuated Eastway’s main dining hall Wednesday following reports of smoke that triggered the fire alarm system. 

“It was a malfunction on one of the triggers, once it detects something it trips,” said Mike Vig, General Manager of University Culinary Services.

The stove hoods in the dining hall have sensors that alert when too much smoke is being produced, and set off the fire alarms. Students in the dining hall were evacuated, however, the students in the dorms attached to Eastway were not. 

“We had to evacuate, it’s protocol,” Vig said. “The firetrucks usually don’t do anything until they figure [what set off the alarms] out. And we are cooking all day.”

The firetrucks that were deployed to Eastway did not need to take action due to the small volume of smoke. Fans were placed outside the dining hall along the balcony as an attempt to get the rest of the smoke out.

Annie Zwisler is managing editor. Contact her at [email protected].

Zaria Johnson is editor-in-chief. Contact her at [email protected].