Overview
- Investigators confirmed that a lightning strike ignited the fire that raced across the lab’s wooden roof and gutted the College of Marine Science building.
- The blaze and the heavy use of salt water to fight it damaged or ruined decades of data and tens of millions of dollars in specialized equipment, including advanced sonar vehicles used for ocean mapping.
- More than 150 students, researchers and staff were displaced and have moved work to temporary sites such as NOAA facilities and The Hub while salvaged samples are stored in cold units and trailers.
- USF is awaiting its insurer’s decision on whether the structure is salvageable, a determination that will shape whether the building is repaired or demolished and accounts for a multi‑year rebuilding timeline if replacement is required.
- Local backers and faculty have raised over $500,000 and partner institutions are offering space, but loss of irreplaceable samples from remote expeditions such as Antarctica and missing instruments could delay federally funded projects and grant timelines.