Around 5:30 p.m. this evening, an unidentified student pulled the fire alarm in the North Village II dormitory to report a fire in a recycling bin.
According to Shyler Kreitz, ’22, an NVII resident, that same student pulled the still-smoking bin out of the building and onto the entry bridge on the southeast side of the building.
“The woman who pulled the fire alarm and also pulled the trash bin out,” Kreitz said. “She was explaining that she was leaving to head to her apartment, and she saw the trash can, and she was like, ‘yeah I’m going to do something about this.'”
Allegheny’s Office of Public Safety was called, and by 5:37 p.m. responders from the Meadville Central Fire Department and the Meadville Area Ambulance Service were on the scene.
Responders then opened windows on the northwest (N. Main St.) and southeast sides of the buildings to clear the smoke, setting up fans to speed the process. Many students took shelter in the nearby Henderson Campus Center, where the Association for Asian and Asian American Awareness (A5) was hosting an event for the Lunar New Year.

By 6:20 p.m., the alarm had gone silent, and students returned into the building. At 6:31 p.m., an ‘ALERTAllegheny’ message was sent to campus, telling students to “avoid NV II and the surrounding area.” The email also stated, “students will be notified shortly when it is safe to enter the building.”
A follow-up message at 6:37 p.m. stated that students could return to the dormitory and that the emergency was over.
No injuries were reported in the initial all-campus communication.
A statement from the MCFD is expected tomorrow on the incident.

This is a developing story; stay tuned to @ac_campus on Twitter and alleghenycampus.com for updates.