The Office of Planning and Facilities Management is investigating the cause of a fire that broke out in a private office in Healy Hall on the evening of Jan. 5, according to a Georgetown University spokesperson.

The Georgetown University Police Department and the Washington, D.C. Fire and EMS Department responded to a fire alarm that sounded at 7:25 p.m. when no one was in the building. The fire tripped the building’s sprinkler system, which extinguished the fire, according to a university spokesperson. 

The office is housed in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, located on the fourth floor of Healy. An electrical issue most likely ignited the fire, according to acting Kennedy Institute Director Daniel Sulmasy. 

“There were no flammable liquids, candles, or holiday decorations in the office, and it was unoccupied at the time, so none of these can have been causative,” Sulmasy wrote in a Jan. 9 email to The Hoya. “An electrical cause is most likely, but formal investigations are ongoing.” 

Members of the community, many of whom were off campus for winter break, were notified of a fire investigation in Healy at 7:32 p.m via HOYAlert, a notification system that delivers news of emergencies to students, staff and faculty.

While Healy did not suffer any structural damage, the fire damaged the office and adjoining rooms, according to Sulmasy.   

“The office sustained significant damage and many books and papers were damaged or destroyed — either by fire or water from the sprinkler,” Sulmasy wrote. “Carpets in several adjacent offices were made wet by the sprinkler system, and there was water damage on the third floor, but the fire was wholly contained within the one office and did not spread.” 

Previously, smoke from a mechanical failure triggered a fire alarm in Healy in February 2019. The alarm led to a complete evacuation of the building. D.C. Fire and EMS determined that the smoke resulted from a defective fan belt on a heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit rather than from a fire. During that incident, 45 personnel were dispatched as part of a predetermined procedure in the event of a potential fire in Healy. 

The Georgetown community has faced several other false alarms in the past few years. In February 2018, a series of late-night fire alarms were triggered in the Southwest Quadrangle dormitories. Later that year, a circuit failure in the Nevils dormitory set off multiple false alarms. 

Although Healy is operational, the incident’s aftermath has disturbed office routines, according to Katherine Arcement, communications officer for the Kennedy Institute. 

“Cleanup is ongoing on the KIE hallway, so there have been disruptions to day-to-day operations, but they have been minimal,” Arcement wrote in a Jan. 9 email to The Hoya. 

Despite the inconveniences faculty at the Kennedy Institute are facing, those who work in Healy are adapting to the circumstances, according to Sulmasy. 

“Several other faculty and staff have been working from alternative locations due to the noise of the drying fans and the smell of smoke, but most of us are still coming to work as usual and we can [be] very grateful that there was no more damage or disruption,” Sulmasy wrote. 

Since the start of the spring semester, students and faculty have been using Healy while Facilities attends to the impacted areas, according to a university spokesperson. 

“Healy Hall is fully-functional, and any remaining damage caused by the fire or sprinkler activation is being assessed and addressed by Georgetown University Facilities Management,” a university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Hoya.