The Friday night fire that destroyed a four-story building under construction and an adjacent 75-unit apartment complex in Amherst, Massachusetts, still wasn't fully extinguished by Sunday afternoon.
In all, 232 people lost their housing and their belongings, but officials said no one was injured.
The luxury apartment building, private, off-campus housing marketed toward student living, partially collapsed from the fire itself. Then wreckers spent much of the weekend demolishing what remained of what was originally a sizable structure.
Amherst fire officials said the “attack” on the fire was hampered Friday night by poor water pressure in the area. Tanker trucks came from numerous communities to help boost the water supply. During the blaze, there were multiple explosions, likely from fuel tanks on the construction site, officials said.
Sunday, standing at the site with piles of rubble still smoking and occasional flare ups, it would have been hard to visualize Olympia Place, if you had never seen it before.
“Everything you're seeing here was part of a building [at 57 Olympia Drive] that housed 232 students that are now displaced,” said Steven Chandler, an assistant fire chief with the Amherst Fire Department.
Among the displaced, 230 are current UMass Amherst students, school officials confirmed.
It wasn’t the occupied building that first caught fire, he said, but the structure under construction.
“That was four floors of wood frame,” Chandler said. “That …collapsed about ten minutes after the first arriving units got here [Friday night],” Chandler said.”
The first calls to 911 at 8:19 p.m.
The first fire fighting units to arrive Friday night found the building under construction "fully involved in fire," officials said.
The radiant heat from that fire “extended” toward the apartment building, Chandler explained.
The blaze became a three alarm fire, with the second and third alarm sounded for mutual aid. Fire fighters came from multiple towns in Hampshire, Hamden and Franklin County.
In the short time before the apartment complex become too unstable to enter Friday night, fire crews went inside to make sure everyone was out, including pets.
“We did go in and rescue three cats from places that we knew they were,” Chandler said. “It is my understanding that there may have been some other pets, that we were not aware of, and did not find in our initial search.”
The town of Amherst declared a State of Emergency Saturday night, which has since been rescinded, and through the weekend and into Monday morning, Amherst fire fighters remained on site.
‘The student housing you’ve been looking for’
The complex at 57 Olympia Drive was completed in 2016 and geared for students who wanted to live off campus in a certain style – the “discerning” student. "Olympia Housing is the student housing you’ve been looking for,” marketing materials said.
Apartments units had high ceilings, stainless steel kitchen appliances, a washer and dryer in every unit and access to a 24/7 gym, a coffee bar and several fireplaces in the lobby.
But when renters left Friday night, maybe for an evening out or because the fire alarms couldn’t be ignored, it seems few realized they wouldn't be able to return.
Now, with the complete demolition of the structure, there won’t be any opportunity for items to be recovered, firefighters confirmed.
The losses are significant, beyond furniture and clothing: passports, computers, handwritten class notes and essays – and sentimental keepsakes.
Thought the worst thing, ‘my room would fill with smoke’
On Sunday, UMass Amherst senior Dana Manor returned to Olympia Drive to see what was left of the apartment complex where she lived with three roommates since her junior year. Her parents were by her side. When they learned of the fire, they flew in from Atlanta.
“I was at 307, right in the middle,” Manor said, pointing in the air to where her apartment was.
Manor was wearing a donated maroon UMass t-shirt. All her belongings, like every tenant, were gone she said, adding that most things are replaceable
“[My] computer, passport, I.D.,” Manor listed.
But not a stuffed animal she’s had since childhood, Manor said. She rolled up her sleeve to show a tattoo of its likeness, a monkey inked on her arm.
Another senior who lived at the complex, Owen Ball, also lost all his belongings including a childhood relic – a stuffed hippo, hand written class notes, his eyeglasses and contact lens.
Owen lived on campus the first three years of college. This was his first apartment.
“My apartment was on the furthest side from the fire,” Ball said pointing. “When it first started, I kind of thought that maybe the worst thing that would happen is that my room would fill with smoke.”
His computer, bicycle and all his clothing were now in the pile of debris that throughout the day continued to grow. They’re replaceable, he said and fortunately he has renter’s insurance.
The last two nights he had slept on a friend’s couch. Like everyone who had rented here, he is now looking for housing, checking regularly with the Red Cross and UMass Amherst officials about options for the rest of the school year.
Necessities and housing needed
Over the weekend, the university "held a little information session," Ball said. UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes and the Dean of Students came to talk about what resources were available to students.
Everyone was assessed on their individual needs. Ball said anyone who appeared like they could manage on their own until Monday became sort of a lower priority. International students and students whose families lived at a distance would need more assistance, he said.
On Monday, on a UMass Amherst Olympia Drive Fire Response page, officials said material goods, including clothing, kitchenware, and school supplies, can be donated at the New2U store in the school's Hampden building, across the lobby from the Hampden Art Gallery.
The UMass Amherst Foundation also has a student care and emergency response fund.
On Sunday, getting ready to leave Olympia Drive Ball was supportive of others, while at the same time absorbing his own loss.
“Try and get in a safe place,” he said, “and hopefully you can continue your semester with some level of normalcy.”
That and get support. Ball said he called his parents Saturday morning.
“I was pretty devastated so they quickly raced up here [from Cape Cod] with some backup clothes from home," he said.
Ball said people are talking about Massachusetts tenant law, that in this kind of situation provides a $750 relocation payment through the landlord’s insurance policy.
“I know a lot of GoFundMes being set up for those who need immediate disaster relief,” Ball said.
As of Monday, more than a dozen had been posted related to the fire. The messaging is straight forward – asking for help or support.
“Our friends …were among those whose entire lives were turned upside-down in the blaze,” one post said. "Every textbook, every laptop, every item of clothing and every keepsake they owned — gone in an instant. In this moment of overwhelming loss and uncertainty, we are coming together to ask for your help.”
