Warren Towers residents evacuated the building Saturday night due to an electrical malfunction and power outage that left about 20 students trapped in elevators, Boston Fire Department officials said.
‘There was a massive short circuit that generated a lot of heat,’ BFD spokesman Steve Macdonald said.
‘That generated shock and caused all the elevators to stop running,’ he said.
BFD received the call to report to Warren at 7:21 p.m., Macdonald said. Although the power went out and the elevators were stuck on different floors in each tower, no one was injured.
BU spokesman Colin Riley said the problem originated in the main electrical room for B Tower.
Warren houses about 1,500 to 1,600 students Riley said. The BU housing website states that Warren can hold up to about 1,800 students.
Displaced students lined Commonwealth Avenue across the street from Warren. Sitting in groups on the sidewalks or on the steps of the College of Arts and Sciences, they watched the fire department and police as the alarms continued to sound in the background.
CAS freshman Mark Meltzer said he was in an elevator when the power went out.
‘I got in the elevator, going up to the fifth [floor] . . .’ the power died,’ he said. ‘Nobody was freaking out. We were sitting there, talking. Someone was texting. We knew there was a fire, but we didn’t know to what extent it was going on. It got hotter.’
Meltzer said he said he was in the elevator for 15 minutes before the fire department opened the doors. Less fortunate students were trapped for several hours.
‘The firemen were literally jabbing at the door to get us out,’ he said.
Meltzer said he did not see any smoke when he got out of the elevator, but he saw water on the ground by the escalator.
CAS sophomore Abbey Baslock-Bechler said she could hear residents screaming when the elevators stopped.
‘They were pounding on the elevator doors,’ she said. ‘It was a good five to ten minutes before the alarm went off.’
College of Communication freshman Kelley Brescia said she was in her room in C Tower when the power went out.
‘First, the power went off,’ she said. ‘And then we heard other towers had evacuated, and then the alarm went off.’
CAS freshman Meagan Fleishman said she was sleeping when the alarm went off.
‘I just ran outside,’ she said. ‘I could hear the sirens coming. There were a lot of them, and it just felt like something wasn’t right.’
Fleishman said she counted 11 fire trucks at the scene.
Metro Boston Disaster Responder David Lopez said the Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services arrived at about 8:50 p.m. and parked outside of COM. Lopez said they respond to situations that are two-alarm and up. They handed out bottles of water, snacks, Oreos and crackers.
‘We’re just here to provide as much comfort as possible,’ he said. ‘We’re not just disaster relief.’ We also respond to small fires and local situations.’
Riley said students were allowed to stay at the George Sherman Union until Warren was clear for students to go back inside. He said the police and fire department had to wait to get the ‘all clear’ from the utilities company.
‘They want to make sure that when they restore power that there’s no problem,’ he said.
At press time, students were still not allowed back into the building. Riley said he did not know when they would be allowed in again.’
MacDonald said he does not know when the elevators will be up and running because the fire department had to pry the elevator doors open to rescue the students.
‘It’s a question if they’ll be up again,’ he said. ‘We have elevator cars that have actual damage to them.’
MacDonald said the initial estimate for the damage is $300,000.
Staff writers Andy Facini, Lauren Finch, Ellie Choi, Christina Braccio and Vivian Ho contributed to the reporting of this article.
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