Lightning May Have Caused USF St. Pete Fire, School Officials Say

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Lightning storms could be the cause of the Saturday evening fire that tore through the University of South Florida’s Marine Science Laboratory on the St. Petersburg campus, school officials said.

“St. Pete Fire Rescue said there was lightning reported in the area around the time the fire started, but the cause remains under investigation,” USF president Moez Limayem said in an update about the fire on Sunday.

Limayem also said that the laboratory building “may be a total loss.”

The two-alarm fire broke out around 5:20 p.m. and more than 70 fire trucks responded to the scene, Patch previously reported.

“Thanks to the quick actions of our firefighters and partner agencies, the situation was brought under control safely and efficiently,” St. Pete Fire Rescue wrote in a social media post.

The building was evacuated, though there wasn’t believed to be anyone inside at the time of the fire, police told Patch.

There were no reported injuries caused by the fire, fire officials said.

Recovery teams are working with the College of Marine Science to salvage key research materials and equipment, Limayem said.

“This is unfortunate as MSL has a rich history and longtime connection to St. Petersburg's maritime community. The building has been home to important marine science education and research, and the work that has been done there has helped USF become a national leader in this field,” he said.

He also promised the school would rebuild the laboratory so that it’s “stronger than ever.”

No other buildings were damaged by the fire, and classes and normal business operations resumed at the St. Pete campus, other than at the laboratory building and other nearby facilities on Peninsula Drive, including the Knight Oceanographic Research Center and the Plant Operations/Receiving facility.

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

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.”