Twin bathroom fires forced fire crews to clear PC East and West on Tuesday afternoon for over an hour

Price Center East and West were evacuated Tuesday afternoon after trash can fires in two separate bathrooms set off smoke alarms throughout the building at roughly 2:30 p.m.

A source heard from a maintenance worker the smoke that filled the building was coming from two fires in bathrooms on both the first and second floors of Price Center.

Police officers later determined that the smoke came from two trash cans that had been set on fire in the bathrooms in Price Center East.

According to the source, evacuees were initially allowed back into Price Center, but when another smoke alarm went off, they were told that it was not a drill and were instructed to evacuate again.

Fire trucks were seen headed toward campus shortly after 2:30 p.m.

The source reported that evacuees would be escorted back into Price Center to retrieve their belongings but would be required to exit the building once again.

According to workers at Tapioca Express, Price Center was reopened around 3:45 p.m.