Hundreds of freshmen are stranded outside of John Jay tonight due to a fire-related incident. Multiple people Bwog talked to indicate that they saw smoke coming out of trash chutes and saw smoke in the hallways, even on the highest floors. A popular theory amongst the stranded is that someone threw something flammable or ignited down into the trash chutes.

There are firemen on the scene now, and there’s no word of when students will be allowed back in.

Update, 1:11am: They’ve been letting students back in for a while and the crowd has all but cleared. The security guard at the John Jay desk informed us that someone threw an object (he conjectured a cigarette or something of the like, as most students have) down the 7th floor chute, which fell to the 4th floor and caught on fire, causing sprinklers to go off. There is also no elevator service currently. We’ll keep you updated with any further major developments!

Update, 2:36am: A tipster that actually lives on JJ7 has informed us that students on the floor with a view of the trash chute before the fire did not see anyone dropping anything down there. While some of the 7th floor residents were studying, someone spotted smoke coming from the chute and opened its door. This caused more smoke to billow out, and this is possibly what eventually set off the fire alarm. The plot thickens!