Education Centre EMC briefly evacuated after smoke in technical room

Smoke was released in the Education Centre of Erasmus MC on Tuesday morning. A fire had broken out in one of the cooling devices in the technical room, causing heavy smoke. Three floors were briefly evacuated. These have since been reopened.

At around ten o’clock, the fire brigade received the alert. At first, it was thought to be a larger fire due to the thick smoke. This turned out not to be the case when it became clear that a cooling machine had caught fire internally.

The fire brigade quickly brought the small fire under control, according to a spokesperson for the Rotterdam-Rijnmond Safety Region. As a precaution, the third, fourth and fifth floors of the Education Centre, where lecture halls 1 and 2 are located, were briefly evacuated. Students were present. Within an hour, they were able to return to the floors and resume their studies.

There is no damage, reports a spokesperson for Erasmus MC. The cause is still under investigation.