10:00 am - November 27, 2010
Clean-up and repair continues from Wednesday's early-morning electrical fire in steam tunnels beneath the Oregon State University Corvallis campus, with 26 buildings continuing to experience no electrical power, no data service or no phone service or some combination of those three. However, crews from OSU Facilities Services and Information and Services and Pacific Power & Light have completed initial clean up and assessment and are beginning to restore services, with most of the buildings expected to become functional for class meetings and work by Monday.
The fire that caused problems widespread enough that the university closed at noon on Wednesday included an electrical "arc flash occurrence," a super-hot burst that melted piping and insulation in the steam tunnels. Asbestos abatement had to be completed, air in the tunnels had to be cleaned and piping and insulation repaired before restoration of services to affected buildings could get underway, and crews accomplished that by working at breakneck speed throughout the Thanksgiving holiday.
As of Friday at 5 p.m., the following buildings remained without at least one of the services above (power, data or phone):
Ballard, Batcheller, Benton, Bexell, Black Cultural Center, Dearborn, Education, Gilbert, Gilbert Addition, Gilkey, Gilmore, Gleeson, Graf, Hovland, Kearney, Kelly, Kidder, Merryfield, Milam, Milne, Owen, Plageman, Rodgers, Shepard, Waldo and Weniger.
Power is expected to be restored to most, if not all, of those buildings by Monday. Data service is likely to remain offline for seven or eight building by Monday, with restoration taking place by the end of next week. Telephone service in 16 buildings will take longer to restore as it requires laying new copper cables, and the immediate priority is to restore power and data services to all affected buildings.
Provisions are being made for faculty in affected buildings to access computers in parts of the Valley Library specially set aside for this purpose. The Valley Library will be open 24 hours a day beginning Sunday. For those in buildings where phone service will be unavailable, the university is encouraging use of cell phones over the remainder of the semester, and is able to forward phone calls to individual OSU landlines to a cell or land number for each affected individual. Facilities Services is working to provide radio transmitters for elevators in buildings without phone service.
The OSU Alert web page (
http://www.alert.oregonstate.edu) will be updated by 6 p.m. on Saturday night and 6 p.m. on Sunday night with updated information regarding restoration of services to each of the buildings noted above, and an additional campus-wide e-mail will be distributed with the same information on both days. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to check e-mail and the website both days to learn about specific conditions they may expect to counter on campus on Monday, particularly if they work or attend class in any of the affected buildings. Further direction will be provided, as well, on using the university's call forwarding system.
Campus Closure
10:50 am - November 24, 2010
The University's Corvallis campus is closing for the remainder of the day, effective at noon. Damage, smoke issues and other complications resulting from an electrical fire this morning in the university's steam tunnels has caused widespread problems with electrical service, heating, smoke and network connectivity in a long and growing number of buildings. For the safety of our students, employees and campus visitors, please know that you may leave for the remainder of the day, though essential personnel are expected to remain on the job.
Residence halls and campus dining facilities have thus far not been affected, and service to our resident students will continue unaffected.
Facilities and Information Services crews are addressing a complex situation resulting from the fire. Please stay in touch with alert.oregonstate.edu, the OSU home page and 541-737-8000, as well as
http://www.flashalert.net/, for updates as they become available.
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