Most residents of Brown Hall, Building E in The Oaks residential neighborhood, have been cleared to return to their apartments.
UPDATE at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 4:
Elon staff from Physical Plant, Instructional and Campus Technologies, and Campus Safety and Police worked throughout the day with the fire alarm company and other contractors to repair systems that were damaged by the electrical surge resulting from a lightning strike last evening. Elon worked in close partnership with the Alamance County fire marshal, who determined the building is safe for occupancy. The sprinkler system in the building continues to be fully operational and Campus Security and Police will maintain a 24-hour fire safety patrol in the building until the fire alarm panel has been fully repaired and tested. The card swipe system on the main doors will be operational by early this evening.
Residents of the building were able to access Brown Hall beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday. Until the card swipe system on the main door is operational, staff will be at the east entrance to the building to check students into the building with their Phoenix Cards. In addition to the 24-hour watch by Campus Safety and Police, Physical Plant staff will be working alongside contractors as the fire panel repairs are completed and testing is conducted. Three apartments sustained water damage from the sprinkler system and Residence Life is working with the 12 affected students to provide alternate accommodations until their apartment spaces are fully repaired.
Eighty-five Elon students living in Brown Hall spent the night with friends Wednesday night following a lightning strike that forced the evacuation of the building. No one was injured, but three rooms in the building were damaged by water when the sprinkler system in the building was triggered.
The strike sent a strong electrical surge through the low voltage alarm system, knocking out the alarm pullboxes and audible alarms and sending 164 trouble alerts to the Elon campus dispatch center. Workers are trying to determine whether the alarm system wiring is damaged, or whether the damage is confined to the building’s alarm control panels. Elon’s fire alarm systems are continuously monitored by an electronic system that reports any functional problems. In addition, the alarm system and audible horns had been manually tested on Aug. 27 during a fire drill at the building.
Campus Safety and Police officers, who were in their nearby offices in the Oaks complex, responded immediately to the lightning strike and found an exterior bell at the building ringing because the sprinkler system had been triggered. Police found smoke in the hallways and communicated immediately with the county’s central dispatch office. Residents were evacuated immediately.
The three water-damaged rooms on the southwest corner of the building, housing 12 students, are being dried out. Plans are to replace carpets in those rooms and make other repairs, which could take a few days. Alternate housing will be found for those students while repairs are being completed.
Physical Plant crews inspecting the building have not been able to determine the exact location of the lightning strike to the building. Flames shot out of a bathroom air duct in room 302 on the top floor of the building, triggering an adjacent sprinkler head. First responders broke through the ceiling to make sure there was not a smoldering fire in that location. Earlier reports that the lightning had blown out the bathroom ceiling were inaccurate.