Photo Resource The fire alarm sounded at around eleven-thirty. Multiple police cars and the fire brigade responded to the call. The whole building was evacuated. A police officer on the scene stated that the fire was caused by the battery of an electric bike that had caught fire.
Students Mark Vernooij and Kelvin Jongenotter, both doing their education minor, stand along the Hollandseweg near the Leeuwenborch. ‘We were in a lecture on the teenage brain for our Education minor’, Vernooij says. ‘The class had just finished, and I had already packed my bag when the alarm sounded. We thought it was a drill.’ Jongenotter was already outside at that time. ‘I had an important call. When the alarm sounded, I saw the whole building empty into the street. My stuff is still inside.’
Some of the planned classes are cancelled. ‘We will continue online at three-thirty’, says Vernooij. ‘I hope I will be able to access my stuff in the building by that time’, Jongenotter says. ‘Otherwise, I will have to share a fellow student’s materials.’
Intranet reports there is still smoke in the building, making it inaccessible for the time being. Employees are asked to continue their work from home or elsewhere on the campus.