Natasha Marar
Editor-in-Chief

Fire and police officials descended on the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Tuesday afternoon in response to a suspected ethanol-induced fire in one the facility’s labs.

Faculty, staff and students at GLIER were evacuated from the building at 2990 Riverside Dr. W. following a fire alarm at approximately 12:45 p.m.

Four Windsor Fire and Rescue Service trucks were onsite unloading hoses at 1 p.m. Campus Community Police were on hand and a Windsor Police Service vehicle was blocking oncoming traffic on Riverside Drive.

Fourth-year thesis student Betty Helou was in the west wing lab that caught fire. She said ethanol reacted with other substances to cause the fire. GLIER is an exclusive research facility comprised of 19 laboratories.

“We’ve had lots of times where the alarm went off, especially during construction. This is the first fire since I’ve been there,” said Marylou Scratch, secretary to the executive director at GLIER for the past 11 years.

The fire extinguished on its own before causing any damage.