On Thursday morning, fire crews responded to a HAZMAT situation at UC Santa Barbara.
Officials initially believed a possible chlorine leak in a room in Elings Hall on campus triggered alarms. However, after entering the building and shutting off chlorine tanks, no leak was found.
By 10:04 a.m., fire officials had turned their attention to the building's alarm sensors.
When initial alarms went off at about 6:06 a.m., Santa Barbara County Fire Department responded to the scene. Shortly after, they upgraded the incident to a HAZMAT situation.
Firefighters wearing protective Level-A suits entered the building, which houses the university's California NanoSystems Institute.
#Hall Incident-UPDATE-After shutting off chlorine tanks,hazmat teams have determined there are no leaks,and are focusing on the buildings alarm sensors.FF’s will monitor and continue to clear the three-story building,and expect to handover building back to UCSB within the hour. pic.twitter.com/9emz3fVVPP
— SBCFireInfo (@EliasonMike) November 18, 2021
Santa Barbara County Fire Department was joined by Montecito Fire in the investigation.
The three-story building was evacuated during the incident.
Elings Hall is the easternmost building on UCSB campus and is the first building visible when approaching the university from Hwy 217.
Officials have not yet confirmed what caused the alarms to go off.
They plan to return control of the building to UCSB by 11 a.m.
