Tempe Fire Department responded to a trash fire on the sixth floor of Palo Verde East on the Tempe campus Monday morning just after 10:30 a.m.
Fire sprinklers activated minutes after the alarms went off, taming the flames, but leaving slight water damage, according to Tempe Fire spokesman Mike Reichling.
Residents in the Palo Verde East complex were able to return to their rooms after 1 p.m.
A fire crew also responded to a similar incident around 3 a.m. Sunday to Vista del Sol apartments after a small, lit item was thrown into the first floor's trash room of building K, apartment manager Michael Polzin said.
It took fire crews about 20 minutes to douse the flames, she said. Students were not allowed into the complex until after 4 a.m.
In both instances, students and housing personnel were ordered to evacuate the buildings immediately, and no injuries were reported, according to the Tempe Fire Department.
University Police and Tempe Fire believe both fires to be accidents rather than the result of foul play, Reichling said.
Journalism sophomore Marcel Louis-Jacques said he arrived at his Vista del Sol apartment around 2:30 a.m. and heard the smoke alarm go off about half an hour later.
He said he thought it was a fire drill and didn’t think of rushing out of the building.
“Soon after (the fire alarm sounded), fire trucks arrived, firemen came out looking ready for war with full gear on,” he said.
Fire crews told the evacuated students they would be waiting outside for at least an hour before being let back in, he said.
“Everybody was pissed off,” Louis-Jacques said. “The majority of people looked like they had just been abruptly yanked out of bed.”
Louis-Jacques said Domino’s Pizza employees eased his concerns as he waited to be let back into his apartment.
“I wasn’t really worried,” Louis-Jacques said. “I wasn’t really concerned about losing my room or anything.”
Reach the reporter at sraymund@asu.edu
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