After the Fire: USF Marine Science Community Comes Together
Featured image: Murawski lab members spent a lot of time organizing samples post-fire. Courtesy of Layne Leggett.
As smoke rose over downtown on Saturday, May 2, marine science graduate student Layne Leggett stood in the Al Lang stadium watching a fire she didn’t yet realize would change her future.
By the end of the night, the University of South Florida’s Marine Science Laboratory in downtown St. Petersburg was destroyed.
Two months later, the community has come together to raise more than $400,000 and relocate the people and samples displaced in the fire.
What Happened?
On Saturday, May 2, dozens of media outlets documented the massive fire at the Marine Science Laboratory at USFSP. More than 60 emergency units and over 200 firefighters came to fight the fire, one of the biggest in resent memory, which was visible across the bay. For hours into the night, crews battled the flames.
USF had sent an emergency alert instructing people to evacuate the building and avoid the area while first responders arrived. Miraculously, no one was hurt and none of the surrounding buildings were damaged.
According to USF officials, a lightning strike was reported around the time of the fire and is the wildly accepted catalyst for the blaze. In the end, most of the roof burned away, and the fire caused structural damage throughout the building.
There is no clear plan yet on what will happen to this site. Whether they move or rebuild depends on the financials, which are still up in the air.
More than 100 students, researchers, and USF staff lost workplace, research, and equipment that day.
Despite the grim outlook, however, the USF community has already come together, looking to the future.
The Aftermath
The Marine Science Laboratory was a mix of offices, laboratory, and archive. It housed decades of research, specialized equipment worth millions of dollars, historical environmental samples and the daily workspaces of more than 100 students, faculty, and staff.
Steve Murawski, professor of 15 years and endowed chair of biological oceanography, CMS at USF, was at home when he got a call from colleagues and saw the large “plume of smoke.”
“I called the current dean and learned that it was the MSL building that was involved, and it was pretty obvious it was not a small fire,” Murawski said. “Over the next few days, we could not do a lot due to the controlled access. We’ve all been involved in this process trying to recover, short term and long term.”
The consensus among staff and students is that the order of priorities was number one, safety; then, preserving the samples – irreplicable biological and historical records. The lab was an archive of samples, frozen in chest freezers.
Dr. Murawski said some of the samples were historical archives, such as biological collections from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill explosion and other frozen samples.
In the days following the fire, Cotton Restoration Crews worked hard to save what samples they could.
“The students and I sorted through the chests, some of the samples were still cold, some were even still frozen,” Murawski said. Incredibly, while many of the samples were destroyed, much was saved.
More Than a Workplace
On May 1, just one day before the tragic fire, Layne Leggett, a master’s student studying biological oceanography at USF, was with friends and colleagues at the Spring Fling at USF.
“It kind of made things hit harder,” Leggett said. “Just the night before we were all together.”
Less than 24 hours later, Leggett was at home when she got a text alert from the university that there was a fire in the area. She was concerned but had no idea of the scale or actual location of the fire. She went to a Rowdies game downtown, and then she saw the smoke.
“I didn’t think that meant that the MSL was on fire,” Leggett said. “I went to a Rowdies game and watched the smoke all night. I was in shock.”
Layne, originally from Ohio, is slated to graduate in Spring, 2027.
“This is the place I started my career as a marine scientist,” Leggett said. “I was in a block of offices where the wall is not complete to the ceiling. You can talk to each other through the walls. I had lab mates I would talk and laugh with, and you could always knock on someone’s door. It was a happy place to be, even if someone was struggling with their research.”
Kylee Rullo, marine science PHD student at USF, is displaced after the fire but hopeful when looking to the future. Rullo is also hoping to graduate in spring of 2027 but says that in her line of work things can change.
“The first couple days were pretty rough for people, but now I think everyone is in a much better place,” Rullo said. “There are concerns about things, like equipment, but there are a lot of people supporting each other and the biggest vibe on campus has really been support.”
Rullo earned her master’s at the MSL and worked out of an office next to the main staircase since 2021.
“I always kept my door wide open if I wasn’t in super work mode,” Rullo said. “It was so easy to walk down and collaborate with the other students, or sometimes, commiserate when things weren’t working.”
It was a special place. A place that Rullo and her colleagues hope to rebuild.
“I hope we can build it better than before,” Rullo said. “It was an older building with lots of charm, but there are perks to a rebuild. I think our leadership within out college has been so amazing. The leaders really care about our well-being.”
When chests of fish, plants, and a mix of vertebrates and invertebrates were sorted and the samples were relocated to other freezers on campus, the next biggest hurdle was apparent: Where would they go?
Reckoning With a Big Move
Roxann Vistocci is a program planner at the USF College of Marine Science. She’s been with the MS college since 2023.
“I don’t have a place to work anymore at MSL,” Vistocci said. “I mean, that’s first and foremost. Nothing needs to be made up in terms of samples, but how can we meet the objectives of the project? What spaces do we need to use and borrow?”
A number of people have moved into the limited space in another marine science building on campus. However, according to Vistocci, local partners have stepped up to help offer up space.
The St. Pete-based National Marine Fisheries Service, Maritime and Defense Technology Hub, and the St. Petersburg Innovation District have all come forward to offer lab and working space. Other offers, even from Tampa, have come in as well.
“Watching my office aflame, it was shocking, sad, puzzling and there were so many questions while we were receiving the news,” Vistocci said. “But I have gratitude every day and am so thankful no one was injured and that so much data was saved. Seeing the efforts coming together in this community, it is very touching.”
Funding the Effort
Aside from the obvious loss of the building, millions of dollars of equipment were destroyed, either by the blaze or by the water used to fight it.
“I think the biggest loss was the new instruments in the marine environmental chemistry lab,” said Professor Murawski. “Things were destroyed; many were completely wet from the saltwater used to put out the fire. But equipment is replaceable. People and samples are not.”
Just two weeks after the fire, St. Pete Councilmember Gina Driscoll spearheaded the Oceans of Support fundraiser to raise immediate funds for the burned lab.
Oceans of Support was held on Friday, May 15 at the Maritime and Defense Technology Hub in St. Pete and benefited both the University of South Florida College of Marine Science and the Florida Institute of Oceanography.
According to Vistocci, the fundraiser brought in more than $400,000 to the MSL.
“The event drew over 370 attendees eager to contribute to recovery efforts,” wrote The St. Pete Renovation District in a thank-you post on May 19.
“The fundraiser was such a nice, joyous occasion,” Vistocci said. “The community donated a bunch of art, prizes, services…it was all really positive.”
While the community comes together to help fund a recovery, the university is also still awaiting the insurance settlement. But it’s clear it will be some time before any rebuilding happens. Still, members of the USFSP and the MSL are optimistic.
“I can guarantee we will come through this even better than we were before,” Murawski said. “We are seeing how resilient our people are.”
Want to help? USF is taking donations to directly help fund restoration efforts for the Marine Science Lab through the USF Foundation at giving.usf.edu
