The fire alarm triggered around 11:00 p.m. Wednesday night in the Erb Memorial Union (EMU), prompting DPS officials and the Eugene Fire Department to rush to the University campus to investigate.
The alarm caused several University students who were still working in the EMU to temporarily abandon their work. Amid an array of flashing lights, the students sat idly as officials determined the source of the alarm.
Among the affected was Shannon Sullivan, a member of the University of Oregon Cultural Forum. She and others were busy preparing an upcoming art exhibit. According to Shannon, nobody in her group was startled by the alarm or the possibility of a fire, and all were eager to get back to work.
“We were discouraged because we were trying to finish quickly,” Sullivan said.
DPS officials discovered that the source of the alarm was likely a manual pull-station within the EMU, and therefore led them to conclude that the ordeal — which lasted approximately 20 minutes — was a prank.
The EMU reopened around 11:20 p.m., but only for ten minutes; at 11:30 p.m., the building closed to the public for the night.
The Cultural Forum’s exhibit, entitled “Past Present,” opens Thursday and chronicles the long history of the EMU through a series of photographs in the Aperture Gallery and the EMU fishbowl on the first floor. The Forum has organized an opening reception tonight from 5-7 p.m. in the Aperture Gallery.