Sullivan Residence Hall was evacuated around 1 a.m. due to a fire alarm.
Six fire trucks and an ambulance responded to the call. According to William Stevenson, University fire marshal, there was potential for this to be a large problem, but it wasn’t.
According to Stevenson, the fire alarm was caused by smoke created from a cigar a student took into his or her room.
“A student had a cigar they had been smoking that wasn’t completely put out. Apparently, the student’s roommate realized this and tried to put it out by wrapping it was either a paper towel or a T-shirt,” Stevenson said.
The cigar created smoke when it was wrapped in the item and caused the fire alarms to be set off, according to Stevenson.
“This ended up being a small thing,” Stevenson said. “It looked bad and smelled bad because of the smoke.”
William Allen, a freshman in animal science, said he originally thought the fire alarm was a drill.
“I’m kind of shocked and worried a little bit, because there were a lot of trucks and I thought it was a drill,” Allen said.
Even though Allen was asleep, he said he would rather be woken up and safe.
“I went to bed early to get a full night sleep,” Allen said. “I think it’s better for us to get out and figure out what happened instead of waiting to see what happens. I think it’s really important to get out early and away from the building.”
Stevenson said the Raleigh Fire Department told him the housing staff got students out of the building and handled the situation well.
“The Housing staff performed really well to evacuate the building and also to allow students back into the building,” Stevenson said. “Hats off to the Housing staff.”
According to Kala Bullet, the associate director for West Campus, there were no injuries and very minimal damage.
“There was no water damage and no smoke damage,” Bullet said. “The problem was addressed very quickly by the fire responders.”
According to Stevenson, the student who brought the cigar into Sullivan Residence Hall was referred to the Office of Student Conduct.
