The Madison Fire Department responded to a call at Memorial Union early Monday morning after a construction worker using a torch-like tool ignited a two-alarm fire, according to a local official.
The worker set wax paper hanging on the walls ablaze with the tool, according to Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8.
The MFD received a call at 7:38 a.m. about a fire that started on the first floor and reached the fifth floor into the Union theater, according to MFD Spokesperson Eric Dahl.
Upon their arrival, Dahl said crews could see smoke coming out of two sides of the building and therefore deemed the incident a two-alarm fire, calling more firefighters and trucks to the scene.
According to Dahl, the fire reached an attic space, which fire fighters accessed after minutes of searching for entryway. Once they found it, they placed a hose up there quickly and extinguished the fire.
The MFD called the fire under control at 7:55 a.m., according to Dahl. No one from the public was injured, but a fire fighter was taken to the hospital for a heat-related injury.
Resnick said Union construction should not be significantly delayed due to the fire because there appears to be no structural damage to the building.
The room where the fire took place was gutted entirely due to the construction project, Resnick said, so nothing in it was damaged. However, there will be some cleanup required to continue the construction project.
Fire investigators will wrap up later Monday morning and construction crews will be let back in, according to Resnick.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department is conducting the open investigation, with no further details released at this time.
