Dressed in a soot-covered lab coat and yellow rubber gloves, research associate Celeste Malinoski wiped down a computer. A bucket of black water was on the floor next to her feet.
She began working at 10:30 a.m. yesterday to clean up the damage caused by a small fire in the Natural Sciences building Monday night.
"We're kind of all in shock," Malinoski said of the fire, which started in Room 3113, one of the research laboratories.
Joseph Wyatt and Troy Adams, who both work for Building Services, discovered the fire at approximately 10:30 p.m. Monday.
"We were working in the stairwell area and we smelled smoke," Wyatt said. "When we looked through the door we saw a lot of smoke. ... It was just a black cloud."
Wyatt and Adams then pulled the fire alarm and dialed 911.
The Department of Public Safety and the Ann Arbor Fire Department are still investigating the cause of the blaze, but Malinoski said there were "some flammable materials" under the fume hood where the fire occurred. A fume hood is a device used to contain and remove chemical fumes.
"There is no good place to have a fire, but to have one in a fume hood is better than to have one in a room because (the fume hood) acts as a chimney," said DPS spokesperson Elizabeth Hall. "If something happens in a fume hood, it will be drawn up."
The AAFD dispatched five trucks and 17 firefighters to the scene. The firefighters were at the scene for approximately 2 1/2 hours, said Battalion Chief Gary Basso.
The building's sprinkler system activated after the fire started and helped to keep the fire contained. "The sprinkler controlled the fire," Basso said.
DPS estimated damage from soot and water at about $10,000. Malinoski said the lab computer will probably have to be replaced because of soot damage, and that microscope lenses were damaged by water. The ceiling tiles will also have to be replaced.
"There's a lot of soot," Malinoski said, adding that water damage to the floor "wasn't so bad."
"It'll be a couple of days of just cleaning," Malinoski said about preparing the lab for working conditions. "Everyone's been really good (about helping to clean)."
Malinoski said the ceiling must be replaced before any equipment can be brought back into the laboratory because of the danger of soot falling from current ceiling tiles.
"We have another suite, so we're setting up our equipment that survived there," Malinoski said.
JOSH BIGGS/Daily
Monday's fire at the Natural Science Building started in this fume hood. DPS estimated damage from the resulting soot and water at about $10,000.