A huge explosion forced the evacuation of the UC Berkeley campus Monday night.
https://twitter.com/jasmintfosho/status/384856294898688000
A generator near the library was reportedly the source of the explosion. Campus police immediately began evacuating the area.
Explosion sent massive plume of fire about 2 stories high. Police now clearing the campus.
— Chris Yoder (@christiancyoder) October 1, 2013
Large explosion by south hall/Campanile @UCBerkeley, underground fire. If you are still on campus, LEAVE CAMPUS NOW
— Jon Kuroda (黒田ジョン) (@jkuroda) October 1, 2013
#ucberkeley generator explosion near library, California hall. #cal #ucpd evacuating campus
— RAsheed ☥ Shabazz (@Rasheed_Shabazz) October 1, 2013
@jasmintfosho a generator exploded? Everyone needs to get out of the area as some hazardous materials may be in area.
— Rev. Dr. Jacuzzi Toblerone (@Spammyjazzhands) October 1, 2013
Explosion pic here http://t.co/W0aCnYfBn4 via @_kohar RT @RGBearTerritory Hearing a campus generator exploded here at #Cal, hence blackouts.
— John Breech (@johnbreech) October 1, 2013
hoping everyone on campus at #Cal is ok from the generator explosion. keep safe folks.
— Cafe Van Kleef (@xCafeVanKleefx) October 1, 2013
https://twitter.com/EdalatAzadi/status/384860155122163712
Students and others at the scene tweeted their concern.
https://twitter.com/EzekielSF/status/384858607423987712
https://twitter.com/xaviermalina/status/384858187830018050
This whole being evacuated from campus thing is really not helping my studying #imissthelibrary ?
— em (@_embron) October 1, 2013
https://twitter.com/yeseniaa_11/status/384860368499003394
The Daily Californian reports that electrical problems plagued the campus earlier in the day.
The campus is currently looking into an attempted theft of copper from the campus high-voltage system, which may have led to the outage, [communications director Christine] Shaff said.
Although backup generators had kicked in across campus, Shaff could not confirm when full power would be restored but said high-voltage crews have identified the problem and are working on ways to fix it.
Other crews have a list of the elevators people are trapped in and are currently working to get them out, she said.
UC Berkeley student @missonederland took this pic of smoke between California Hall and Durant Hall. pic.twitter.com/vdBVO6bKEW
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) October 1, 2013
Smoke rising up the sky. @dailycal @SaraGrossman pic.twitter.com/4MUseMEqEY
— Alice Oh (@helloaliceoh) October 1, 2013
https://twitter.com/FuryalMahmood/status/384833685964353536
Here’s video of the explosion, caught from a distance but giving a good idea of the confusion immediately following the blast.
VIDEO: Shot by a student and posted by @DailyCal of Berkeley explosion http://t.co/V4DjG3HtDg
— Steve Grzanich (@SteveGrzanich) October 1, 2013
As the Daily Californian suggested, it’s possible the explosion is linked to the theft of copper grounding wire last week.
UC Berkeley explosion may have been caused by vandals stealing copper grounding wire last week
— Robin Abcarian (@AbcarianLAT) October 1, 2013
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