Burned-out motor fills Evergreen library with smell of smoke

A hard-to-find source of smoke in the basement of The Evergreen State College’s library building turned out to be a heating-system motor that had burned up, a spokesman for the college said Sunday.

The small fire damaged the motor, control box and nearby insulation and duct work, spokesman Todd Sprague said. Damages were estimated at $2,000, he said.

The school was venting the building on Sunday to try to remove the smell of smoke. The library and the college’s computer center reopened at its regularly scheduled time of noon Sunday, he said. Information has been posted on the library building doors to alert students about the smoke odor, Sprague said.

Evergreen police and local firefighters responded to reports of smoke Saturday night and Sunday morning, but couldn’t determine the source. Evergreen personnel familiar with the HVAC system finally traced the source of the smoke to the motor about 3:15 a.m. Sunday, Sprague said.

This story was originally published January 10, 2016 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Burned-out motor fills Evergreen library with smell of smoke."