An equipment malfunction was to blame for a fire that happened on the campus of Iowa State University late last week.

ISU officials say the fire happened at the university’s power plant on Thursday and that forced all classes to either be canceled or online for the remainder of the week. Jefferson resident and 2023 Greene County High School graduate Katrina Heupel is a freshman at ISU and she describes how she found out about the fire.

“I didn’t get an email or anything, so I didn’t find out from ISU. But I found out from a friend from Jefferson texting me and asking me if I needed a ride home, and then we started talking and I figured out more about it. After my professors had emailed me (that) in person classes were canceled, then I decided to head home.” 

Heupel says she went back to ISU Friday afternoon and only had two classes that were online. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio going to online classes proved to be difficult because she was unfamiliar with how to navigate the website the university uses and submitting an assignment that was supposed to be done in person was also tricky to do online. Heupel adds her dorm building is the furthest east from campus and so the air conditioning was not as impacted but other areas were.

“So our building wasn’t impacted except for hot water which made our dining center not be able to serve hot foods, which actually shortened their dining times. So the people that had to stay there because they had no way of getting home didn’t have many options. Overall our A/C wasn’t impacted, but residence halls closer to campus were impacted and I know people have told me that they just feel like they’re standing in a puddle in their room.” 

Heupel is going to ISU for interior design. According to ISU’s website in a press release, crews were able to repair the cooling system Friday morning and some buildings remained closed on campus. Classes are resuming in person today.