Within a matter of days, two fires occurred on or near campus, both requiring the attention of firefighters.
The most recent incident unfolded in the late afternoon on Sunday, Sept. 24 after an electric scooter was left in the study room of a dorm in Whitman College. According to students who spoke with The Daily Princetonian, the incident was caused by a wheel on a scooter which wouldn’t stop spinning, creating soot and causing the tire to fall apart.
Fadima Tall ’27, whose neighbor owned the scooter in question, told the ‘Prince’ that the spinning wheel “burned a hole in the ground,” setting off the fire alarm in the building and causing multiple fire trucks to arrive on the scene.
Some of the damage was visible in pictures shared by Barstool Princeton on Instagram, which showed the wheel created substantial soot and other debris through its disintegration.
“If you analyze the Barstool photos, it doesn’t look like a hole was created, just soot,” Louisa Gheorghita ’26, who was at Whitman when the incident happened, told the ‘Prince.’
Gheorghita is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’
According to Tall, her scooter made contact with the malfunctioning scooter, leaving both smoking. Tall added that she and the others in Baker Hall were then questioned by firefighters and Public Safety.
This incident comes weeks after the University implemented new restrictions on scooters on campus, prohibiting the use of personal electric vehicles (PEVs) during “peak hours.”
University staff and students acted swiftly to the incident, alerting local authorities. The alarms went off in Baker Hall/1981 Hall at 5:35 p.m., and fire trucks arrived shortly after.
This came days after an oven caught fire on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at the nearby Wawa on Alexander Street. According to William Gil ’27, the fire alarm went off at 11:20 p.m., and firefighters arrived 20 minutes later.
“Everyone was shocked but was also laughing because it was an unexpected event,” Gil said.
Nobody was injured as a result of either fire.
Hiba Samdani is a News contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
