by Lori Gallegos
Daily Lobo
A half dozen fire trucks filled the north parking lot of Zimmerman Library after the building caught fire late Sunday night.
Students clustered together in groups to watch, as smoke billowed from vents on the north side of the building for three hours.
Inspector Gabe Serna, an Albuquerque Fire Department spokesman, said the first fire alarms sounded at 10:51 p.m., and the fire department responded within four minutes.
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"There was heavy smoke coming out of the basement area, so they went ahead and dispatched a second alarm," Serna said.
Serna said 60 personnel were needed to control the fire, but no one was injured.
Student Caroline Bohlen was studying on the first floor when the alarm sounded.
"I thought it was a false alarm, but then all of a sudden somebody came out and told everyone to get out," Bohlen said. "When I walked outside, I still thought it was a false alarm, but then smoke started to pour out of the building."
By 11:53 p.m., the fire was contained, but the smoke made it difficult to determine the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage, Serna said.
"The smoke was the biggest challenge for these guys - just trying to gain access and locate the fire. You're looking at a pretty thick and dark situation," Serna said.
Students had mixed reactions to the fire. Bradley Knockel said it would not affect him.
"You can study anywhere," he said. "If you need a book, you've got databases online. I kind of think libraries are outdated."
Student Ariel Vaughan said the fire would affect everyone at the University.
"It might discourage people from coming here at all," she said.
Katie Schlotterback agreed the fire would have a big impact on students.
"I use Zimmerman a lot," she said. "Depending on how bad the damage was, it would probably put a lot of kids in West Wing. It's going to jam everyone up. It may jam up Centennial. Our tuition is going to go up because they're going to have to redo it."
Serna said the library would not be open to the public Monday, and the fire department would stay there until the situation was under control.
"We'll be here till tomorrow morning," Serna said.
According to the library's Web site, the basement of the building holds government documents such as federal and state publications, in addition to newspapers, magazines, journals, microfilm and microfiche.
