The Administration Building was evacuated Tuesday at approximately 1:42 p.m.
An electrical pump in mechanical room #144 on the first floor began emitting large amounts of smoke. The smoke was pumped throughout the entire building through the ventilation ducts in the mechanical room.
“I was told that an electrical pump was malfunctioning,” said University of Memphis President Shirley Raines, who was outside the building after it was evacuated.
The malfunctioning pump was on the chill water line, according to Jim Hellums, assistant vice president of the Physical Plant.
“We shut the faulty pump down and then started running the backup and let people back in the building,” said Hellums. “There was no indication that there was a fire, just an acrid smell in the building, no signs of flames on the pump, and the workers didn’t report seeing any flames either.”
“I was returning from lunch, and I thought it was just a fire drill, but came to find out that it wasn’t. They told us was that it was an electrical short of some sort,” said Curt Guenther, assistant director of Media Relations, whose office is on the third floor of the building.
There were several students and faculty standing outside the various exits of the building. University police officers as well as firemen from the Memphis Fire Department, went inside.
The officers began letting the crowd return to their offices at about 2 p.m., while the smoke was still visible and before the fumes had time to clear out.
“The pump that shorted out either controlled ventilation for the building or was close to the ducts and that’s how the smell got all over the building so fast,” said officer Nikki Acerra, who evacuated people inside the building.
The smell was so strong that Raines, who was supposed to attend a meeting in the building at 2 p.m., talked about having the meeting relocated to another spot, but ultimately decided to wait it out and held the meeting as scheduled.
“The smoke bellowed out of the mechanical room and went into the air intake and pumped it around the building,” said Hellums.
“I called the Physical Plant when I smelled the smoke and asked if they said it had been reported. They said no, so I told them and then turned on the fire alarm,” said Michael Williams, a U of M student.
Many people complained of the smell. Even the officers inside the building stayed near open doors.
“The smell was so strong. It was a sour smell throughout the whole building,” said Helen Visconti, space utilization analyst at The University of Memphis.
