Fire, power failure shut UA dormitory

A maintenance tunnel fire Monday led to a smoky University of Arkansas, Fayetteville residence hall with a power outage causing the dorm and a next-door residence to remain closed into the evening, officials said.

No injuries were reported, said Travis Boudrey, a battalion chief with the Fayetteville Fire Department. Neither the cause of the fire nor the power failure were immediately known, officials said.

Fayetteville firefighters were called at 4:36 p.m. to Reid Hall and helped free an occupant from an elevator as all students were ordered to leave, Boudrey said. The power outage extended to the nearby Maple Hill West residence hall, with both buildings cleared of occupants.

Capt. Matt Mills with the UA Police Department said it wasn't immediately known how many students were affected, but that fewer students were in the dorms because of the university's revamped calendar. The traditional week-long break has been scrapped at UA this spring in favor of shorter breaks because of the pandemic, and there were no classes Monday.

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