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Lab smoke evacuates Memorial University engineering building

Memorial University engineering students were forced out of the S.J. Carew Building at the St. John's campus on Wednesday afternoon.

Smoke in a refrigeration unit of the thermal lab on the ground floor sparked an evacuation at around 4 p.m. The St. John's Regional Fire Department responded a short time later, according to Platoon Chief Robert Fowler.

"They just recently had a new refrigeration unit put in there, and [they are] having some issues with it, so it was creating some smoke in the immediate area," Fowler explained.

He said firefighters and Memorial University maintenance staff found the problem, cut power to the unit and aired out the space.

"Right now the contractor is on his way in to deal with the issues with that unit."

Students have been let back into the building on the north side of campus off Prince Philip Drive, but the laboratory remains closed.

No one was injured by the smoke.