Stephen F. Austin State University

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Residents in Hall 16 on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus safely evacuated the building after a small fire began in a clothes dryer late Monday.

No injuries were reported.

“Fire alarms throughout the building alerted residents to a fire that began about 11:20 p.m. Monday,” said university spokesman Andy Kesling.

Although fire damage was confined to one stackable electric dryer unit on the third floor, smoke filled the hallways of the third and fourth floors of the residence hall.

Approximately 400 male students live in the four-story residence hall.

Students living on the first and second floors of the building were permitted to return to their rooms about 1 a.m. Tuesday. Third and fourth floor residents occupied their rooms by 1:45 a.m.

Because of lingering smoke on the upper floors of the building, 10 residents chose to accept the university’s offer to relocate to other campus housing for the night, said Kesling.

Three units of the Nacogdoches Fire Department responded within minutes of the automated fire alarm sounding in the building.

A preliminary fire department investigation indicated that excessive clothes lint in the dryer filter led to the fire.