Campus Alert Archive
Princeton

A 1:56 AM First-Alarm at Frick: The Second Overnight Chemistry-Building Fire at Princeton in Three Years

NJfireadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

At 1:56 AM EST on February 11, 2021, Kingston Volunteer Fire Company #1 was dispatched on a first-alarm assignment to Princeton University's Frick Chemistry Laboratory at 121 Washington Road. Deputy Chief 250 and Engine 4 (24-4) responded mutual aid alongside the Princeton Fire Department. The incident occurred during the pandemic-restricted academic period when overnight lab occupancy was already constrained by COVID protocols. It came almost exactly three years after a similar overnight fire on March 23, 2018 at the same building — both events showing the persistent pattern of overnight Frick incidents being detected and handled before they could escalate.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Princeton University
Private R1 · NJ
~8,400 studentsPTENS
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTPhone
Verified verbatimKingston Volunteer Fire Company #1 official incident report201 chars
At 01:56, we were dispatched into Princeton on a first alarm assignment for a fire in the Frick Chemistry Lab on the Princeton University campus. Deputy Chief 250 and Engine 4 (24-4) made the response.
Kingston Volunteer Fire Company is a South Brunswick-based mutual-aid unit that regularly responds into Princeton on first-alarm assignments — Frick is one of their most frequently-assisted campus buildings
Deputy Chief 250 is the Kingston deputy chief radio designation; Engine 4 (24-4) is Kingston's fourth engine, designated 24-4 in the Middlesex County radio system
A 'first alarm assignment' in New Jersey mutual aid typically means one engine, one ladder, and the on-duty deputy chief — a minimum response that scales up to 2nd-alarm if needed; the lack of escalation in subsequent records suggests the fire was contained quickly
UPDATEfire-alarm
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from Kingston Volunteer Fire Company's incident summary in the standard NJ mutual-aid radio format209 chars
Princeton Fire and mutual aid units operating at Frick Chemistry Laboratory, 121 Washington Road, for active fire. First alarm assignment. Princeton DPS on scene. Building evacuated. Cause under investigation.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Princeton's Department of Public Safety routinely operates at the unified command for any fire at Frick; the standard ICS structure brings the municipal fire department as IC and DPS as the institutional liaison
121 Washington Road is the formal Frick Chemistry Laboratory address; the building sits on the south side of Washington Road just east of Streicker Bridge
The pre-dawn timing meant building occupancy was very low — overnight at Frick during the pandemic period was particularly constrained by COVID lab-density rules
Context

Background

Princeton's Frick Chemistry Laboratory at 121 Washington Road — the 263,000-square-foot 2010 building that replaced the 1929 original — has a documented pattern of overnight incidents that are caught early by detection systems and contained without escalation. The first-alarm fire at 1:56 AM EST on February 11, 2021 is the second such recorded event in three years, after the March 23, 2018 equipment-room fire reported at 1:40 AM. The Kingston Volunteer Fire Company's contemporaneous incident summary — preserved on their own website — is in many ways the only public record of the February 2021 fire; Princeton's News Office did not issue a release, and no PTENS emergency notification was sent. The first-alarm assignment brought Kingston Deputy Chief 250 and Engine 4 (24-4) into Princeton mutual aid, working alongside the Princeton Fire Department and Princeton's Department of Public Safety. The fire did not escalate to second-alarm, which is the closest publicly-available proxy for how severe it was — second-alarm in Middlesex County would have brought additional engines, ladders, and the regional hazmat unit. The case is documented here because the absence of a Princeton public statement creates a documentation gap that is itself notable: a fire at a major chemistry building, occurring during the academic year, contained at first-alarm but with no university-released account of cause, response, or damage. That gap is part of the institutional pattern this archive tracks. Frick's other documented incidents include a glass-container chemical spill in May 2012 that hospitalized three researchers and the March 23, 2018 equipment-room fire that the sprinkler and a hand extinguisher contained.
Analysis

Key Findings

The only public account of the February 11, 2021 Frick first-alarm fire is the Kingston Volunteer Fire Company incident summary; Princeton did not issue a news release or a PTENS emergency notification, creating a documentation gap for an otherwise routine campus fire
The 1:56 AM dispatch timing — almost identical to the 1:40 AM dispatch on March 23, 2018 — establishes a recurring pattern of overnight Frick chemistry-building incidents at Princeton, both detected by automatic systems and contained at first-alarm without escalation
The lack of escalation to second-alarm is the closest publicly-available proxy for severity; second-alarm would have brought additional engines, ladders, and the Middlesex County hazmat team — none of which were dispatched
Outcome
The fire was knocked down on first-alarm assignment without escalation. Specific cause and damage estimates were not publicly disclosed by Princeton; no injuries were reported in any subsequent public communication.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    1st Alarm Fire in Princeton University's Frick Chemistry Lab (Kingston Volunteer Fire Company, February 11, 2021)
    kingstonfireco.com
  2. Official
    Fire extinguished in Frick chemistry building (Princeton News, March 23, 2018 — comparative context)
    princeton.edu
  3. Official
    Frick Chemistry Laboratory (Princeton Department of Chemistry)
    chemistry.princeton.edu
  4. reference
    Kingston Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 (NJ) — institutional context
    fire.fandom.com
Tags
firefirst-alarmlab-firechemistry-buildingfrickprincetonovernightmutual-aidno-public-releaseprivate-r1no-alert-sentdocumentation-gap
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion