HOUGHTON -- The investigation into the cause of the fire at the Michigan Tech University archives is now closed.
MTU officials said that after an investigation by the fire marshal, there is no definitive answer as to the cause of the fire, but they believe evidence points to a light fixture.
Back in October, water from the sprinkler system damaged 200 square feet of materials in the university's library.
"Some of that material was re-boxed on the night of the fire into non-archival boxes just to get it out of wet material," said MTU archivist Erik Nordberg. "So we've had a crew working through these last few weeks just to get that material back into the archival boxes."
The room where the fire started is now under repair. Nordberg says light fixtures and ceiling tiles have been replaced. All of the carpet will be replaced with tile.
Nordberg also says the current status of the nearly 700 boxes sent to a freeze drying facility in Philadelphia is unknown, but they're hopeful that the majority of the documents will be returned.
Belfor is the disaster recovery firm where the freeze-dried documents are being housed.
In the meantime, MTU Archives has opened a temporary service area in the library: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1 to 5 p.m.
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