To avoid potential injury from a malfunctioning boiler at the Cambridge Radisson Hotel, all 180 Boston University residents and paying guests were displaced Friday night, according to a Radisson spokesperson.
‘Everything is up to par now,’ the spokesperson said. ‘It could have been worse, but we wanted to take extra care of everyone’s safety, so we evacuated for the night.’
Students were first warned of the danger by the building’s fire alarms, which began sounding around 7 p.m.
John Kyrios, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, was in his room when he first heard the alarms, but said he was initially unaware of any hazard.
‘We already had a few false alarms this week, so most of us thought it was nothing,’ Kyrios said. ‘But when I opened my door, I could definitely smell fuel or some kind of substance.’
College of General Studies freshman Laurie Schulman was also inside the Radisson when the evacuation began.
‘Everyone left their cell phones and belongings upstairs. We had no idea what was going on,’ Shulman said. ‘I figured it would be a 10-minute ordeal.’
An hour went by.
As firefighters continued to enter the building, students said the information they received about the situation was minimal and unclear.
‘We heard rumors saying it was a gas or an oil spill and that there might be carbon monoxide in the air,’ Shulman said. ‘But we were being told that it was unlikely we would be sleeping there tonight.’
Despite visible clouds of smoke coming from the building’s roof, students were permitted to re-enter the building in small groups to collect personal items they would need for the night.
‘They gave us 10 minutes to get anything important,’ Shulman said. ‘So I ran up 10 flights of stairs to my room.’
As residents quickly grabbed their laptops, phones and jewelry, a message came over the hotel’s PA system warning students to evacuate as fast as possible.
‘A frantic voice came over the speakers and said, ‘You have to leave immediately,” Shulman said. ‘It was a very scary situation.’
With a potential fire inside the building, students were even allowed to use the elevators to retrieve their belongings.
‘I was riding up in an elevator with a firefighter so I could get my medication,’ Kyrios said. ‘I asked what the problem was and he said, ‘The boiler room is on fire, and we can’t put it out with water because it will explode.’ Then he said something about using chemicals to put out the fire, but that it was also dangerous to do that.’
Radisson representatives denied any existence of a fire on the premises that night.
Meanwhile, almost four hours after the initial alarm sounded, the approximately 60 remaining students who had not left the scene to spend the night elsewhere were transported to the George Sherman Union to await further instruction. One hour later, they were transported to the Sheraton Commander in Cambridge.
For some, however, it was not the end of the evening’s inconveniences.
‘They gave us rooms there based on the [Radisson] floor we lived on,’ Shulman said. ‘So the kids who lived on the bottom floors got rooms first.’
Shulman, who lives on the 10th floor at the Radisson, was told she would be staying at the Marriott Cambridge due to limited space at the Sheraton.
‘There was such a lack of communication,’ Shulman said. ‘Only a few of us were at the Marriott.’
On the other hand, Kyrios decided to spend the night with his family in Wellesley. After calling the Radisson the next day, he was told residents were allowed to return at 3 p.m.
But upon his arrival, Kyrios said fumes were still in the air and, as a result, affected some students’ well being.
‘It still smelled like gas,’ said Cori LaCavalla, a School of Education freshman and Radisson resident. ‘I had a headache for the whole rest of the night.’
And while some students thought the entire situation was handled effectively, LaCavalla said she was dissatisfied with the university’s response.
‘I think they tried, but I don’t think they used good judgment letting us back inside to get our stuff while there was still a problem,’ LaCavalla said. ‘Even though they sent us up with security guards and firefighters, people went unsupervised to different floors and rooms. If someone had passed out or been injured, they would have never known.’
The Office of Residence Life and resident assistants for the Radisson declined comment, and BU spokesperson Colin Riley said he was not contacted about the incident.
However, after a hectic weekend, most students said life at their residence had returned to its normal condition after opening the windows and airing out their rooms.
‘It’s one of those things, I guess,’ LaCavalla said. ‘It could have happened anywhere.’
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