SUNY Canton cancels classes

CANTON — Due to the fire in SUNY Canton’s Cook Hall and possible smoke damage to adjacent buildings, the school is sending students home and cancelling all of next week’s classes.

Officials are limiting access to several buildings on campus until they have been checked for damage and are clean. Cook Hall, which contained a chemistry lab where the fire started, was the only building damaged by fire.

The affected buildings are closed but the rest of the campus is accessible.

Residential students are being told to return to campus Feb. 19. Classes will resume Feb. 20.

Only students with obligations outside the classroom, such as athletes, may remain on campus. The men’s ice hockey game versus Syracuse University scheduled for 7:30 tonight will be played as scheduled. Chaney Dining Hall is serving dinner this evening.

“We consider ourselves very fortunate that no one was hurt,” President Joseph L. Kennedy said in a statement. “It was a tremendous response from our local firefighters, rescue squads and police agencies, including our own university police here on campus. This situation could have been worse, but these agencies and individuals were exceptional in containing the fire and minimizing the damage.”

“We’ll attempt to resume normalcy as soon as we are certain that it is safe to do so,”he said. “We’ve had a conference call with the SUNY Chancellor’s Office and they have been exceptional in their guidance and assistance. We will undoubtedly have to make up some classes later in the semester and maximize alternative classroom space, but ultimately we’re hoping this will be minimally disruptive in the long run.”