A fire occurred at the old Ogg Hall at 716 W. Dayton St. on the UW-Madison campus Dec. 14, causing around $5,000 in damage.
The Madison Fire Department received a call around 11:00 A.M., according to public information officer Eric Dahl. The fire was in the elevator shaft of the west tower and the 13th floor with another fire possible in other parts of the building, Dahl said.
Dahl said no construction workers were hurt in the fire, although some had to exit the building on the scaffolding alongside the building. No firefighters were hurt in the response.
MFD investigators determined the fire was caused by sparks from a cutting torch had ignited nearby construction debris.
The $5,000 in damages was mostly to tools and equipment, according to Dahl.
Firefighters had difficulty using internal building fire hydrants early in the response due to the main water pipe inside the building being frozen, according to Dahl. Firefighters were preparing to use a ladder truck to move the fire hoses into the building, but the fire was extinguished before that was needed.
Smoke moved to other parts of the building due to doors and other interior materials being removed in the deconstruction process, Dahl said.
UW-Madison Department of Environment, Health and Safety spokesperson Keith Burdick said the building is not less safe for workers due to the fire and another fire was unlikely.
There's very little in there to burn,"" Burdick said.
The fire might have slowed the deconstruction process by a day or two, but not significantly, according to Burdick.
