HONOLULU (AP) - A fire on the University of Hawaii campus has destroyed a building that stores records for payroll, vendor payments and student loans for the entire UH system, authorities said Sunday.
UH spokesman Gregg Takayama told the Honolulu Star Advertiser that the blaze in the university's budget and fiscal office destroyed the records of about 60,000 students and 7,000 to 8,000 faculty and staff.
"Some of the records are backed up on an off-campus site, but most are not," Takayama said. "We won't know the impact until they're able to get back into the office and determine what kind of computer records and paper records can be salvaged. For now it's a bit too early to say what the immediate impact is."
The fire dislocated a UH staff of about 40 employees, Takayama said.
Fire officials said the fire was reported at 8:03 a.m. Sunday, and firefighters appeared to have it under control at 8:21 a.m. But Honolulu Fire Capt. Robert Main said that around 10 a.m., the building erupted into flames.
"Once it got into the roof structure, we had problems getting into the roof area and opening it up," Main said.
The building is considered a total loss, Main said.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
