At about 7:25 p.m., officials evacuated everyone in the building when smoke activated the dining hall's fire alarm.
Chapel Hill Fire Department officials who responded to the scene said the alarm was set off by smoke from a grease fire behind the counter at the Burger King, located downstairs in Lenoir.
Fire department officials said the fire was accidentally generated from a french fry cooker located in the kitchen of Burger King. An employee immediately put out the flames with a fire extinguisher, and the smoke set off the building's alarm system, officials said.
Fire department official Keith Porterfield said the fire was nothing serious and was not a threat to students but that the situation was handled efficiently.
"(The employees) reacted pretty quickly to it," he said.
Carolina Dining Services officials handed out vouchers to students as they were exiting the building so that those who had not eaten could return for a meal.
At about 7:40 p.m., employees were allowed back in the building, and all students were permitted to return upstairs shortly after.
Michael Alston, a supervisor at Top of Lenoir, said CDS officials were following standard procedure by evacuating all the students. "We try to take care of the students," he said. "There was nothing we could do. It could have been something very serious."
Sophomore Jim DeMay said it was so crowded when he was told to leave Top of Lenoir that it took three to five minutes for him to get out of the building.
