An explosion on the Texas Tech College campus in Lubbock set off fires and energy outages Wednesday, main faculty officers to challenge evacuation orders for a number of buildings and cancel courses for the remainder of the week.
An alert despatched to the campus group round 8:45 p.m. described the explosion as occurring at a substation however a later replace stated it was at a manhole.
No accidents had been reported, Lubbock Hearth Rescue Capt. Jon Tunnell stated.
Movies circulating on social media and native TV stations confirmed a heavy presence of firefighters on campus and hearth and smoke popping out of at the least one manhole cowl.
It wasn’t clear what may need prompted the explosion.
Energy will likely be shut all the way down to your entire campus in Lubbock, Texas, whereas repairs are underway, stated Caitlynn Jeffries, a spokesperson for the college’s police division.
“You can go ahead and go home for Spring break. We are closing school down for the next couple days,” Jeffries stated.
The varsity additionally instructed school and workers to work remotely if attainable till additional discover.
Lubbock Hearth Rescue responded to a attainable fuel leak round 7 p.m. native time and located “multiple manhole covers with smoke and fire issuing from them,” Tunnell stated.
“This remains a very active scene as crews continue to assist Texas Tech University in mitigating this emergency,” he stated.
There are greater than 40,000 college students at Texas Tech and the college sits on 1,800 acres in West Texas.
