St. Kate’s Public Safety calls multiple fires on campus ‘arson’

Multiple fires were set across St. Kate’s St. Paul campus Wednesday in an apparent case of arson, according to emergency alerts sent to students.

According to tweets from the university, fires were “found and contained” in at least seven buildings, including the chapel and Coeur de Catherine, which houses the dining hall, library and student center. No injuries have been reported.

LeAnn Suchy, the school’s educational technology librarian, said on Twitter that two fires in the library bathrooms had been extinguished.

“So crazy. Everyone’s fine, they were small, in bathroom stalls, but still so weird,” Suchy tweeted.

The university said it was still working to identify the fires’ cause. An email to students from Public Safety had the subject line “Arson on campus.”

“If a fire alarm goes off [in] your building, immediately move to safety. There are no fire drills today,” the email read.

The school sent out another message at 1:42 p.m. reporting that the “investigation is ongoing” and police had arrived on campus.

In the same tweet, the university reminded students that emergency alerts would continue to come through the app LiveSafe. St. Kate’s drew controversy last year when it sent alerts about an on-campus shooter through LiveSafe, an app that many students did not have at the time.

A tweet at 2:21 also called the fires arson. A chair and papers in a garbage can include the items set on fire.

Sophie Carson can be reached at cars0017@stthomas.edu.