The University Police Department and Charlottesville Fire Department were dispatched to Balz-Dobie dormitory Wednesday afternoon at 2:09 p.m following a fire and smoke report.
According to UPD crime prevention sergeant Ben Rexrode, the small flame was able to be put out quickly. No injuries were reported.
“It was found that an unknown object was on fire in a window sill on the sixth floor which subsequently activated the fire suppression system,” Rexrode said in an email to The Cavalier Daily.
The fire took place on the top floor of Balz-Dobie, which houses first-year Echols scholars. Three fire trucks and four to five police cars were at the scene, blocking off a majority of McCormick Road.
Firefighters broke a window in order to get to the room. According to eyewitnesses, smoke could visibly be seen leaving the window.
Students have suggested that it was the Christmas lights on a resident’s bush that had caught on fire.
The incident is still under further investigation by the CFD.
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