By Madhri Yehiya, Jesús Marrero Suárez and Tanisha Bhat
A fire reported on the seventh floor of 10 Buick St.’s east tower at approximately 7:46 p.m. caused several floors in the building to be evacuated for more than three hours Monday night.
The cause of the fire is unknown. Several detectives from the Boston Police Department were present at the scene.
BU spokesperson Colin Riley wrote in an email that residents of three apartments were unable to stay in their rooms for the night due to water damage, but were given the chance to retrieve some of their belongings.
He added that the affected students will be “staying with friends or are in buffer spaces.”
Riley said the building’s sprinkler system extinguished the fire and caused water damage in nearby rooms. As you see this can save your property, look for sprinkler installer near me and check your options this could be your live saver.
“There’s water damage cleanup right now taking place, and they’re waiting on the city to clear the rooms that are affected, and the areas adjacent to it,” he said.
Zeigh Perry, a resident of the seventh floor of east tower and senior in the Questrom School of Business, said after the fire alarm went off, he noticed water pouring out of a nearby apartment and smelled smoke in the hallway.
“That’s when we made the decision to leave and we go downstairs,” Perry said. “There’s firemen running up, there’s ambulances and stuff outside.”
Perry said he saw someone brought into an ambulance outside.
“I saw somebody who didn’t seem physically injured being loaded into an ambulance,” he said.
Riley said no residents were injured in the incident.
Mychalia Sanfilippo, a senior in the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development and a resident of the fifth floor, said while she and her roommate did not need to evacuate until 9:30 p.m., several officials investigated their room for signs of water damage.
“At around 8:30-ish facilities and firefighters came to our apartment to check to see if there’s any water,” they said. “About an hour after that, ResLife came in … asking if we had any water damage in our apartment.”
Sanfilippo said BU officials informed her the water damage was caused by sprinklers going off on the seventh floor, but they did not provide a reason for the fire.
“They just said water with the sprinklers went off on the seventh floor and dripped down,” Sanfilippo said.
Residents of the fifth, sixth and seventh floors were initially told they may not be able to sleep there tonight, but around 11 p.m., BU officials updated that most students could return.
A BU Emergency Alert was not sent out to the BU community, as is common practice following “the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation” around campus posing a pressing threat to students or employees, the BU campus safety website states.
However, the website notes a BU Emergency Alert will not be sent out if officials believe it will “compromise efforts to assist victims or to contain, respond to, or otherwise mitigate the emergency.”
Melinda Stackpole, a resident and junior in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences who was waiting outside the building, said Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore spoke to the crowd of evacuated students outside the entrance to StuVi-1 at about 9:45 p.m.
“Dean Elmore made an announcement that in floor seven, the fire alarms went off and the sprinklers were activated,” she said. “That there’s a lot of water damage on floor seven so the inspection companies are coming to check it out and then floors five and six also might be damaged.”
The cause of the fire is still being investigated by BUPD and the Boston Fire Department.
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