Angelique Inchierca / Photo Editor
At approximately 7 p.m. April 28, the Keene Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at the Living and Learning Commons (LLC).
Keene Fire Department Captain of Operations Jason Martin said, after they received notification about the alarm, campus safety contacted the fire department and said smoke was coming out of the elevator machine room in the LLC.
Martin said, “So we got [to the LLC] and made entry-confirmed that there was smoke in the machine room. They went in and found out that one of the motors that runs elevator car number one had burnt up.” Martin added he doesn’t know what caused the motor failure.
Martin said, in response to this, they shut off the power to the motor and ventilated smoke out of the area.
At around 7:20 p.m., the fire department turned the building back over to Keene State College, allowing students to go back to their rooms.
However, Martin said the elevators would be out-of-order until repairs were made on the failed motor.
When asked about the cause of the motor failure, Martin said, “They do fail. Just like a car or anything electrical.” Martin added that the time it will take to repair the motor is dependent on when the contractor arrives on the scene.
