Earlier tonight, a small fire broke out on Laurier’s Brantford campus.
Post House Residence was evacuated for approximately 10 minutes while local fire department officials entered the building. No students were injured.
Unconfirmed reports are stating that a grease fire caused the incident, though the confirmed cause of the fire still remains unknown.
Evacuated students were directed to the Brantford Students’ Centre, where voting has been ongoing today.
It has been reported that voting increased during this period, most likely due to the influx of students.
Earlier today, an accident involving electrical wires that supply power to Laurier Brantford left the campus without electricity today.
“A cherry picker that was down by the student centre area tipped over and knocked out some wires that go to the Brantford campus” said Joel Robinson, Wilfrid Laurier Students’ Union vice president of public affairs. “That essentially knocked out power to most of the buildings is what I’ve been told.”
The power outage affected the ongoing election at the Brantford campus, as the polling station was located in the basement of the Students’ Centre, one of the affected buildings. The polling station was later relocated once again to the Student Lounge in the same building.
“We’ve had to make an adjustment and move the polling stations from the basement of the students centre to the front lobby,” said Robinson.
Polling stations remained open until 8 p.m. at the new location.
It remains unclear as to whether voter turnout was affected by either incident.
“The second the power went out they actually had an increase in voter turnout at the polls,” said Robinson. “It seems a little strange but it’s good to know that people are coming out.”
