Cause for SUNY Canton fire undetermined

CANTON — There is still no cause determined for Friday’s fire at SUNY Canton’s Cook Hall.

There was an explosion in a chemistry lab on the north end of the building just before noon Friday. There were no injuries from the blaze that drew 10 fire departments and a hazmat team. Cook Hall is home to the departments of science, health and criminal justice.

Fire investigators arrived at the campus at about 7 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday and stayed long into each night, according to Randy B. Sieminski, SUNY Canton’s Director of Public Relations.

“The investigation is ongoing, as are all the other efforts to resume some sort of normalcy on campus,” Mr. Sieminski said. “I’m not sure we anticipate pinpointing the cause anytime soon.”

Short of “something obvious,” ascertaining the fire’s cause will take time and require patience, he said.

“We anticipate another day like that tomorrow,” he said.

In the meantime, the college has sent air quality samples off for lab work in hopes of reopening several buildings affected by the fire as quickly as possible.

Those include the Faculty Office Building, Wicks Hall, Payson Hall, Miller Campus Center and Heritage and Rushton Residence Halls.

“Most of those buildings were in the proximity of the fire or downwind of the smoke,” he said. “We want to use an abundance of caution before allowing anyone back into the buildings.”

Initial field tests on air quality in the residence halls were encouraging, he said.

“We’re very optimistic those residence halls will be fine,” he said. “The preliminary field results were very positive and we’re hoping the lab results are equally positive.”

Classes will not resume until Feb. 20. Campus officials had said they did not want students near a fire scene while attempting to go to class.

Upon hearing the news, most students left SUNY Canton Friday night or Saturday morning, he said. About 85 college athletes are still on campus. The school’s athletic facilities were not affected by the blaze, and the dining hall remains open to feed the students left on campus.

“Most decided to stay and practice with their teams,” he said.