NEIU

Smoke was reported billowing from one of the elevators in the Ronald Williams Library at approximately 4:45pm on Tuesday, Sept, 11. Firefighters on the scene said that repairs were being performed on the elevator in question when a hydraulic line blew. The emergency line was pulled manually to stop all of the elevators and the library was evacuated while firefighters were called in to assess the fire risk. Staff and students outside of the library reported being able to smell the effects of the hydraulic line failure from around the outside of the building. One student who declined to give his name reported he was in one of the other elevators when the emergency line was pulled. According to this student, he and the other students in the elevator were forced to climb out since the elevator had stopped between floors. There were no reported injuries and the building was declared safe for re-entry shortly thereafter.