Students walking past Cooke and Hochstetter halls were surprised Thursday morning by thick clouds of black smoke billowing out of the Hochstetter chimneys.
Trucks from the local Getzville Fire Department arrived on the scene within minutes after noticing the smoke while at a nearby automobile accident.
Al Swavy, assistant director of Occupational and Environmental Safety Services, believes the problems arose because the furnace did not reach the proper temperature required to change the incinerator's products into regular vapor.
The furnace in question is used to incinerate lab animals and lab paraphernalia after testing is complete.
"We're not sure just yet if we had a burner malfunction or not," said Swavy. "The operator turned the burner on and for whatever reason, it just started smoking real badly, and so she shut it down real quick."
The problems were contained to the incinerator in the basement of Hochstetter Hall and did not damage the buildings in any way, he said.
Usually, the incinerator only contains bed sheets, but Thursday it also contained several black plastic bags and frozen animal carcasses, which made the smoke much thicker, said Swavy.
After Swavy arrived on the scene, the furnace was turned back on and the incineration process finished without a hitch.
Just what was in the thick smoke above UB?
"Just your normal products of combustion that you would find in a regular fire," said Swavy. "The specimens themselves weren't anything of a viral nature - any HIV or hepatitis B or anything like that."
Until technicians inspect the furnace, no further incinerations will take place, he said.
