An arson occurred at Flint Hall Wednesday night, said Jenn Horvath, public information officer for the Department of Public Safety.

An unknown person set a piece of paper on fire and placed it in a recycling bin on the first floor of Flint’s A wing, Horvath said. The incident happened at 10:14 p.m.

A fire investigator from the Syracuse Fire Department classified the incident as arson, she said.

The fire alarm at Flint went off when the incident occurred and residents remained outside the building until nearly 11 p.m.

C’Ambrose Batchelor, a freshman mechanical engineering major who lives in Flint’s C Wing, said Flint residents were told to head over to Day Hall shortly after the alarm went off.

‘They sent us over to Day so they could investigate,’ he said. Batchelor said he heard someone was smoking and it set off the alarm.

Jordy Martin, a freshman computer engineering major who lives in Flint, said he heard a trash can was on fire in the A wing on the first floor.

Martin said residents were told at 10:30 p.m. that it would take 45 minutes until they would be allowed to re-enter the building. But residents were allowed to re-enter the building before 11 p.m. as Flint’s C-wing residents could return to their rooms and A-wing residents had to wait in the lobby until the investigation was finished.

The Syracuse Fire Department, SU’s Safety Department and DPS were on the scene. The case remains open and has been turned over to fire investigators.

jdharr04@syr.edu

Published on February 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jon: jdharr04@syr.edu