A fire occurred just after 9 a.m. at the University Of Alaska Fairbanks' old power plant facility. The Fairbanks, Fort Wainwright and University Fire departments were dispatched to the scene of the burning building. Firefighters were able to extinguish the visible flames from the ash tower and eliminate the damaged debris. Although there is not enough information to determine where or how the fire started, dust is suspected to be a contributor. Because the fire was able to be contained, and affected a small portion of the building, the boilers that power the University were undamaged. One minor injury was reported from a worker that hit his head. He was evaluated by medical personnel on scene and released. Public information officer for UAF, Marmian Grimes, spoke about the incident.
"At this point, it's too early to say what the cause was. We're just focused right now on getting everything cleaned up, and we'll be looking to identify the cause and get a sense of the extent of damages later this afternoon," she said.