Crack found in wall of Penn State building that was evacuated, fire chief says
Police, fire officials and engineers responded to an incident at Penn State’s Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building Wednesday afternoon that led to the building’s evacuation and remains under investigation.
The exact nature of the incident is unclear, but Alpha Fire Company was called to the building at about 1:35 p.m. for a “sound of an explosion,” according to dispatch reports. An emergency notification from Penn State alerted the community to the investigation and urged people to avoid the area.
The building was evacuated but no injuries were reported, the university wrote in a brief media release, adding that there is no ongoing threat to campus.
Tony Berrena, Alpha Fire Company’s fire chief, said crews found a crack in a wall of the building that stretched from the second floor to the fifth floor. He also noted the floor had dropped about 2 inches.
Speaking personally, Berrena told the Centre Daily Times he believes the incident may stem from an issue with the recently opened building’s foundation. The exact cause remains under investigation.
“It was chaos at the beginning,” Berrena said. “It was [frightening] for even the fire company, because we didn’t know if it was safe to be in there. ‘Did someone put a bomb in there?’ We didn’t know.”
Several crews — including Bellefonte and Penn State EMS, the University Ambulance Service, Centre County’s sheriff’s department and Penn State’s Office of Physical Plant — were also on the scene Wednesday afternoon.
At about 3:15 p.m., some people were allowed back inside the building with an escort. The entire western side of the building remained blocked off with police tape. In another emergency notification sent at about 5:18 p.m., the university said the building is closed until further notice.
Students, staff and faculty who work or study in the Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building should expect emails from their dean or instructors that include updates on building operations, the university said in a media release.
According to Penn State Transportation Services, Fischer Road between the liberal arts building and Allen Road is closed until further notice. All vehicles must enter and exit the Nittany Deck and Nittany Lion Inn from the west end of Fischer Road from Park Avenue.
The 143,000-square-foot Susan Welch Liberal Arts Building opened this spring after a yearslong construction project that cost upward of $125 million. It houses several academic units, labs, centers, institutes and other learning spaces including anthropology, political science, sociology and criminology, public policy, the criminal justice research center, the Matson Museum of Anthropology, the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, the Social Science Research Institute and general purpose classrooms.
This story was originally published November 12, 2025 at 2:42 PM.
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