It's a difficult start to the last week of spring semester for students, faculty, and staff at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus.
The Marine Science Laboratory caught fire Saturday during a lightning storm, but an investigation on the cause is ongoing.
Tom Frazer, dean for the College of Marine Science, said having only graduate students allows for flexible finals testing this week.
"We put a priority on the success of our students, and so we already made every accommodation to make sure that they can take their exams in a non-stressful environment,” he said.
"I'm certainly saddened by the fact that a significant part of our infrastructure has been damaged and will affect people's livelihoods, the research that they do, and students moving forward."
The large fire required 60 crews and 200 firefighters to bring it under control. No injuries were reported.
“All of the folks that might have otherwise occupied that building are safe and accounted for … so I feel good about that,” Frazer said.
Read more: USF Marine Science Laboratory in St. Pete believed to be a 'total loss' following Saturday fire
No animals were injured either, as the aquarium facilities are located in an adjacent building, out of the fire’s reach.
The blaze was mostly contained to the roof and attic, but there was a lot of damage to the two-story building from smoke and the amount of water it took to extinguish.
Firefighters used both freshwater and saltwater, which is corrosive and likely damaged a lot of science equipment.
“I think almost everybody that was doing research and using that facility will be impacted one way or another,” said Frazer. “We're still concerned that samples may have been lost that may be irreplaceable. We're doing our very best to try to make sure that we can get an inventory of those.”
While USF President Moez Limayem said earlier Sunday the building may be a total loss, Frazer said they don’t know that yet for sure, nor the total cost of the damage.
"Once the fire marshal gets back to the university and they ultimately allow access to the building to assess that damage, we'll know,” Frazer said.
He also said the lab building may be USF's oldest. It was originally constructed as maritime service and training station in the 1940s.
"It was built like a bunker, so there's a reason it's still standing after 85 or 86 years,” Frazer added.
Since labs were installed in the '60s, it's been used to explore ocean physics, biology, geology and chemistry.
The oceanographic research program at the USF College of Marine Science is not only nationally recognized, Frazer said it's one of the best in the world.
“We're forecasting things like harmful algal blooms. We're looking at the consequences of environmental change on extracted resources or exploited resources,” he said.
“We provide a lot of information that's of value to our ports and our maritime industry. We have a tremendous impact on what we would call the blue economy, and so that's very, very important to Florida and certainly to the nation as a whole.”
Frazer was overcome with gratitude for the first responders and the community’s outpouring of support.
“That speaks … to the relationship that we have with all of the folks in St Petersburg and just our culture in general. In difficult times actually, there's a real opportunity to show your true character and I'm pretty happy,” he said, choking up.
