A seven-alarm fire destroyed a five-story apartment building at 104 Hemenway St. in Fenway Saturday, causing an estimated $10 million in damages and displacing up to 100 residents, according to The Boston Globe. Many of the residents were students at Emerson College, Berklee College of Music and Northeastern University.
Marc Sanders, spokesperson for the Boston Fire Department, said the Fire Investigation Unit determined that the fire was caused by electrical failures and most likely started on the second floor of the building.
“It’s referred ‘unspecified electrical,’ and that basically means that they believe it was started with something to do with the electricity, but it’s unspecified as to exactly what specifically caused it,” Sanders said. “They believe that it started on floor two.”
Due to a lack of sprinklers in the building, BFD Commissioner Joseph Finn told local news station WBZ that the fire was able to spread from the second floor of the building, where it originated, to the fifth floor.
Sanders said Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s Office of Neighborhood Services is working with the different universities that had students displaced to help aid the students and find them temporary housing.
“The building was privately owned, but Northeastern had a large population of students living at 104 Hemenway,” Sanders said. “Northeastern, the day of the fire, set up a command post at the Marino Center on Huntington Ave., and they worked in conjunction with the different students and universities that were housed in that building.”
All Northeastern students who lived in the buildings at 104 and 108 Hemenway St. have been provided housing at the East Village residence hall. The students are also being offered items such as toiletries and bedding and have access to free meals at the dining hall in Stetson East residence hall, according to the university.
Additionally, Northeastern’s campus bookstore will be providing free textbooks and course materials to replace those lost in the fire, according to the university, and the Office of Student Affairs will also be loaning out a limited number of laptops.
