A fire in Salk Hall left firefighters baffled for most of early Wednesday morning.

According… A fire in Salk Hall left firefighters baffled for most of early Wednesday morning.

According to Jay Frerotte, Pitt’s director of environmental health and safety, Pittsburgh firefighters reported to Salk Hall just before 1 a.m. after a custodian reported the presence of smoke in the building to Pitt police. After several hours spent searching the building for the source of the smoke with no results, a Pittsburgh battalion member brought in a thermal-imaging camera to determine the location of the fire.

A pocket of heat was found smoldering in the building’s roof, indicating that the fire may have been related to construction.

“They’ve been doing work to repair [Salk Hall’s] roof,” Frerotte explained. “The fire department opened the roof, tracing the smoke and opening a wall, or part of the roof, to see if they saw anything on fire. The imaging camera allowed the roof to be opened up in the proper place.”

Frerotte said that when they opened the area, the smoldering fire was exposed to oxygen, causing a fire flash.

“Once they discovered what was hot, they put out the heat source,” he added.

No classes were cancelled, and Pitt did not close any part of the building as a result of the fire, according to Pitt spokesperson John Fedele. The cause of fire is still being investigated.