About 170 people were evacuated yesterday from Zimmerman Library and the Social Sciences building after a fire alarm was set off by concrete dust from construction in the area.
Albuquerque Fire Department commander Gabriel E. Marquez said a full first alarm was sounded at noon. Four ladder trucks and three paramedic units were at the scene to assess the situation.
"We were dispatched to the tunnel access that runs under UNM," Marquez said. "Our biggest concern was the students. We ventilated the area and found that the cause was the concrete dust from the construction."
For unexplained "security reasons" students were not immediately informed of the exact cause of the disturbance.
Frank Martinez, director of public relations, said that the first priority was to identify the source of the apparent smoke in the tunnels and to ensure that students were not in danger.
According to Marquez, the tunnels involved run underneath the University's main building for about six miles.
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Randi Williams, a freshman architecture major who works in Zimmerman for Campus Dining Services, helped keep people away from the building, along with the fire department, UNMPD and library security.
"They just told everybody to get out," Williams said. "People were still trying to get inside while the alarms were going off. I think everybody just thought it was the welders that set it off like the last two times."
Students and staff were allowed back in the building at about 1:10 p.m. No injuries were reported, Marquez said.
