The Remsen Medical Sciences Building at the Geisel School of Medicine will reopen to faculty, staff, and students Monday morning after crews spent the weekend cleaning up from a fire on the 8th floor of the building.
The fire Friday morning caused some minor damage to a mechanical room and water damage on multiple floors, but nobody was injured in the incident.
The fire is under investigation but does not appear to be suspicious in nature, the Hanover Fire Department said.
“Crews have made good progress this weekend to clean the areas affected by the water damage. The building is safe and will be open for access by all faculty, staff, and students on Monday morning,” Geisel Dean Duane Compton said in an email to the Geisel community Sunday afternoon.
The Hanover Fire Department said it responded to a fire alarm activation shortly after 11 a.m. Friday and found heavy smoke conditions on the 8th floor, which contains mechanical and maintenance spaces.
Building sprinklers had already activated, and firefighters used hoses to contain the fire to the room where it started.
The building sustained minor fire and smoke damage to the 8th floor and water damage to floor 8 down to floor 3, the fire department said.
All safety systems were restored to the building by midafternoon Friday, and the air handling system helped clear residual smoke.
Remsen was closed for the weekend, with Dartmouth Safety and Security staff helping members of the Geisel community retrieve personal belongings on Friday. Compton said more work will continue this week.
“We do ask for your patience as cleanup efforts continue. You will notice that we still need to replace ceiling tiles on multiple floors, and some floor baseboards are missing as part of the ongoing cleanup effort. A number of fans have been placed throughout Remsen to aid in drying areas affected by water,” Compton said Sunday.
Compton thanked Hanover Fire Department personnel, Geisel Facilities staff, Dartmouth Facilities Operations & Management, and Dartmouth Safety and Security personnel for their response in helping to limit the disruption caused by the fire. He said on Friday “the overall damage is far less than what we experienced in the previous fire in February 2023.”
Parts of Remsen were closed for a few weeks in 2023 after a fire in a lab on the 7th floor.
