The JumboTron scoreboard at Bryant-Denny Stadium suffered damage after a fire broke out during construction work on Thursday afternoon.
The blaze left the back leftside of the scoreboard charred. Tuscaloosa police and fire officials remained on the scene at the fenced-in construction site along Bryant Drive on the stadium's south side.
"There was a small fire that started when crews were working to remove the JumboTron," said Cathy Andreen, director of media relations for the University of Alabama. "... The workers were using some welding equipment, working to remove the JumboTron, and some sparks fell into an air filter and started a fire."
Andreen added that there were no injuries and that workers were able to put out the fire as Tuscaloosa Fire Department trucks and fire fighters arrived.
One eyewitness on the scene, who declined to be identified, said the blaze began shortly after noon on Thursday. A plume of smoke and flames burst out of the structure, but quickly went out, he said.
The removal of the JumboTron scoreboard is part of the $80 million, south end zone expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium for the 2010 season. The JumboTron, which was first added in 1998, will not be re-attached to the stadium once 9,500-plus seats are added to the south end zone. The upper speaker had already been removed from the JumboTron and placed on the ground by a crane before the fire broke out.
Doug Walker, Alabama's associate athletic director for media relations, said Andreen's office was handling statements about the fire and that no statement from UA athletic director Mal Moore was immediately planned.
