Three University of Colorado police officers were sent to a local hospital to be treated for possible smoke inhalation after a laboratory fire broke out in the university’s engineering center.
The fire started at 2:17 a.m. this morning and was put out by the building’s sprinkling system, university spokeswoman Jeannine Malmsbury said.
The three CU police officers were sent to Boulder Community Hospital, she said.
The engineering center was closed to faculty, students and all visitors and then reopened by 8 a.m.. The first level of the chemical engineering wing of the building was still closed, Malmsbury said.
The fire is believed to have started in a fume hood in an unidentified lab in the building on the east edge of the Boulder campus.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
It set off an alarm and two sprinkling systems, she said. Flames were extinguished within minutes.
The fire was contained to one room. Damage initially appeared to be limited to furniture and water damage.
There were no hazardous materials released into the air in the building, according to the campus environmental health and safety office.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
