Wickersham Hall reopening to students
March 28, 2013
907-474-7902, 907-460-4750
3/28/13
The University of Alaska Fairbanks began moving students back into Wickersham Hall Thursday starting at 7 p.m.
The university had moved students to alternate housing Wednesday evening after an afternoon power outage prompted a failure in the building’s steam heating system. While an external auxiliary heater kept the building from freezing, relocating students for the night was the best option both for student comfort and safety.
Facilities Services crews worked Wednesday night and through the day Thursday to find a replacement part and install it in the building. Residence Life provided round-the-clock staffing at the building to assist students who needed alternate housing, transportation and access to their belongings.
According to reports, student rooms were not damaged during the power or heat outage.
The power outage happened at about 3:30 p.m. and was traced to a ground fault in a main power line running to the Haida parking lot. When the power went off, steam valves in the Wickersham Hall heating system were stuck open. The system quickly overheated, which caused gaskets on the heat exchanger to fail.
Wickersham Hall was built in 1957 and has double and single suite-style accommodations for up to 96 upperclassmen and graduate students.
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