{
  "id": "2026-10-23-university-of-virginia-rice-hall-fire-activity-evacuation",
  "slug": "university-of-virginia-rice-hall-fire-activity-evacuation-2026-10-23",
  "institution": {
    "name": "University of Virginia",
    "shortName": "UVA",
    "state": "VA",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "UVA Emergency Alert / @UVASafety",
    "enrollment": 25000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2026-10-23",
    "type": "fire",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "resolution": "unfounded",
    "headline": "Smoke odor prompts a building evacuation and three alerts, cleared within the hour",
    "headlinePublic": "Smoke odor prompts a building evacuation and three alerts, cleared within the hour",
    "summary": "At 11:35 AM EDT on Friday, October 23, 2026, UVA posted a [UVA Emergency Alert](https://x.com/UVASafety/status/2113655633387950150) for fire activity at Rice Hall, 85 Engineer's Way. An update said the fire department was investigating an odor of smoke and had evacuated the building, and a [clearance](https://x.com/UVASafety/status/2113665096601760109) followed at 12:13 PM EDT.",
    "outcome": "The incident was cleared by 12:11 PM EDT on October 23, 2026; nothing had been found, and people could resume normal activity."
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2026-10-23T11:35:47-04:00",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "UVA Emergency Alert: Fire Activity at Rice Hall, 85 Engineer's Way . Avoid the area.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UVASafety/status/2113655633387950150",
      "sourceDescription": "@UVASafety post",
      "annotations": [
        "Read twice on 2026-11-09 (X search, then an independent post-id lookup); the two texts matched. HTML entities decoded; t.co links kept as posted.",
        "Official space before the final period preserved."
      ],
      "characterCount": 84
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestamp": "2026-10-23T11:53:57-04:00",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "UVA Emergency Alert: 11:52 AM Fire Department is on scene and investigating odor of smoke in Rice Hall. Rice Hall has been evacuated. Nothing currently found. C",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UVASafety/status/2113660204243923191",
      "sourceDescription": "@UVASafety post",
      "annotations": [
        "Read twice on 2026-11-09 (X search, then an independent post-id lookup); the two texts matched. HTML entities decoded; t.co links kept as posted.",
        "The X text as posted ends with a stray \"C\" after \"Nothing currently found.\"; the post-id lookup returned the same text and no longer version. The message was likely truncated by the alert system.",
        "Carries its own in-text time (11:52 AM)."
      ],
      "characterCount": 160
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestamp": "2026-10-23T12:13:23-04:00",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "UVA Emergency Alert: 12:11 PM The incident at Rice Hall has been cleared Police and Fire remain on scene. You may resume normal activity. No further updates.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UVASafety/status/2113665096601760109",
      "sourceDescription": "@UVASafety post",
      "annotations": [
        "Read twice on 2026-11-09 (X search, then an independent post-id lookup); the two texts matched. HTML entities decoded; t.co links kept as posted.",
        "Says \"No further updates.\" Missing period after \"cleared\" preserved."
      ],
      "characterCount": 157
    }
  ],
  "context": "Rice Hall houses UVA's computer science department on the engineering grounds.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The initial alert said \"fire activity\" before the update clarified it was an odor of smoke.",
    "The update and the clearance each carried their own time stamp in the text."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "@UVASafety: UVA Emergency Alert, fire activity at Rice Hall",
      "url": "https://x.com/UVASafety/status/2113655633387950150",
      "type": "official-social",
      "accessDate": "2026-11-09"
    },
    {
      "title": "@UVASafety: UVA Emergency Alert, odor of smoke, Rice Hall evacuated",
      "url": "https://x.com/UVASafety/status/2113660204243923191",
      "type": "official-social",
      "accessDate": "2026-11-09"
    },
    {
      "title": "@UVASafety: UVA Emergency Alert, Rice Hall incident cleared",
      "url": "https://x.com/UVASafety/status/2113665096601760109",
      "type": "official-social",
      "accessDate": "2026-11-09"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "2026",
    "backfill-2026-10-12",
    "fire",
    "public-r1",
    "virginia",
    "building-evacuation",
    "all-clear"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-11-09",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-11-09",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}