Fire Breaks Out At University Of South Florida's St. Petersburg Campus; Billowing Smoke Seen For Miles

ST. PETERSBURG, FL. — Firefighters raced to tackle a blaze that broke out at the University of South Florida's St. Petersburg campus Saturday night.

According to campus police, the two-alarm fire broke out at about 5:20 p.m. in a lab building. Although the buildings were evacuated, no one was believed to have been inside the building when the fire broke out, police said.

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As of 8 p.m. sirens were still blaring and huge plumes of smoke were seen billowing from the site.

Campus police reported that there were about 71 fire trucks at the scene.

The fire sparked concerns among residents.

Nick Toth and Cindy Crowder, who live at The Beacon on Third, a condo building near campus, heard about the fire from friends and saw the smoke as they got home Saturday evening.

"We went to the rooftop and saw the flames and the smoke," Crowder told Patch. "It’s crazy how big it is."

Then, they walked to the waterfront path near USF’s Harbor Hall, a route they regularly take with their dog, to watch the fire across the marina.

"It’s really sad to see. There’s a lot of data in there and a lot of old school information that’s not even digitized, a lot of long-term studies that are going up in flames right now. It’s just really sad," Toth said.

He has good friends who work in the building and have been texting him since the fire was reported.

"I’m getting texts like crazy," Toth said. "They’re all heartbroken over it. It’s an older building and it’s been there for a long time, so it’s not surprising that it’s burning the way it is. We’re just curious how it started. There was a big lightning storm here."

The massive fire also forced USF to cancel the Gibbs High School prom that was scheduled to take place in the campus ballroom on Saturday night.

Four disappointed students had heard about the fire, but only learned that prom was canceled when they arrived at the campus.

“My mom sent me the article [about it] as I was driving,” Ellie Curtis, 17, told Patch.

Khloe Temple, 18, said, “Then Ellie had texted me and she was like, ‘Dude, there’s a fire,’ and I was like, ‘I know! I hope prom is still on.’”

Luckily, Gibbs’ prom has been rescheduled for Sunday, the students said.

But Temple is scheduled to work and is worried she might not be able to attend.

“It’s all so crazy because it’s our senior year and we have exams literally Monday and Tuesday, so it was planned for Saturday so that we would be able to have time to recover,” she said, adding, “But it’s scary to see. I’m glad no one was inside.”

The story also makes for a prom they’ll never forget, the group said.

“It’s quite the story,” Ella Benson, also a senior at Gibbs, said. “We’ve been standing looking at it and at one point, there was a rainbow, like, over the smoke. It was just very strange to see.”

Temple added, “A weird juxtaposition.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.