Students in Indiana University’s new J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program in the former Republic building evacuated during class after a burning electrical smell filled the building.
About 20 students milled about or sat in the building’s parking lot at 333 Second St. at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday as Columbus firefighters climbed on the roof and searched the basement seeking the source of the smell. The call was dispatched as a possible structure fire.
Columbus Fire Department Battalion Chief Dan Cleland allowed the students to go inside the building at about 6:15 p.m. to retrieve laptops and other personal items as class was over for the day and students then went home.
“This is a high visibility program and there is high dollar equipment inside this building,” Cleland said as the search continued, adding that firefighters were pretty aggressive in the search when they arrived because of the building’s importance.
The iconic all-glass former Republic building, was built in 1971 and named a National Historic Landmark in 2012.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
