By Bill Novak
The Capital Times
MADISON, Wis. — An overheated coffee maker is the prime suspect in a small fire early Tuesday morning at the new Madison Children’s Museum that resulted in approximately $40,000 to $50,000 in damages to exhibits, authorities reported.
The fire call came in at 4:42 a.m. as a water flow alarm from the alarm company, according to the Dane County 911 communications center.
The sprinkler system put out the fire on the fourth floor of the museum at 100 N. Hamilton St., but water flowing down from that floor damaged exhibits on floors below, fire officials reported.
Eric Dahl, spokesman for the Madison Fire Department, said a coffee maker left on overnight in a break room most likely is to blame for the fire.
Investigators believe the coffeemaker overheated, the counter caught fire and the sprinkler activated to put it out, Dahl said.
“Firefighters arriving at the scene didn’t see any fire but did see water coming down the stairs,” Dahl said. “They followed the water to the fourth floor, where there was some smoke and the destroyed coffee maker.”
There was no one in the building at the time and no one was injured, Dahl said.
The new Madison Children’s Museum is scheduled to open on Aug. 14, according to the museum’s website.
The new facility is on Capitol Square, in an old Montgomery Ward store that was built in 1929 and had been used most recently as a state office building.
A $5 million donation from the Overture Foundation was the primary source of funding for the $10 million renovation of the building into the museum, according to the museum’s website.
Since January, the museum has put on a “road show” with the 100 State St. location closed during the process of moving into the new facility.
The old museum had been on State Street since 1991.
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