Most of the Science Hill area at UC Santa Cruz will be open today after an extensive fire Friday engulfed the fourth floor of Sinsheimer Laboratories, a campus spokesman said Sunday.
The four-story research facility and an adjacent interior road, Steinhart Way, will remain closed for two to four weeks, Jim Burns said.
A team of investigators combed the building over the weekend, but the cause of the fire has not been released, Burns said.
Workers were also drying out the building, while researchers investigated the extent of damage to their work and tried to preserve their materials and find interim accommodations.
"The clean-up will be extensive," Burns said. "There was a lot of water pumped into the building."
The Natural Sciences Division is coordinating the reopening of the building, he said, adding that few classes meet there.
Chemistry researcher Jim Lewis said his lab is on the bottom floor, on the opposite side of the building from the fire, but that water and soot damage to equipment would set him back several weeks.
Lewis felt lucky though, he said, compared to some researchers who lost valuable gene research that had taken more than 10 years to gather.
| A damage estimate has not been released, Burns said. |
