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A fire on the third floor of Green Quad building B, formerly West Quad, caused "no significant fire damage," last Thursday night according to Kyle Warren, the resident advisor on duty when the fire was controlled.
Warren, a second-year political science and English student, declined to release the name of the student who started the fire, but said that it appeared the fire started while she was cooking with oil.
Beth Hinson, a third floor resident of Green Quad, said students started evacuating around 9:15 p.m. and were able to return around 11:30 p.m.
"We came out of the room and there was smoke coming out of a door down the hall," said Hinson, a second-year international studies student. "We went outside and about five minutes later firemen showed up. There was smoke and water coming out of the window of the apartment the fire was in."
Gene Luna, director of Development and university housing, said 20 students were displaced and 10 to 12 have stayed elsewhere the last several days. He said he hopes students will be back in their rooms by noon today.
"We're discouraged that so many students were displaced from an accident caused by a student above them," Luna said. "Fortunately, we have sprinklers so that the fire was put out so quickly."
Some Green Quad residents said their rooms were severely damaged as a result of the fire.
Roommates Amelia Beach, a second-year business student, Heather Boulware, a second-year pre-pharmacy student and Emily Hartley, a second-year business student had extensive damage in their room as a result of the sprinklers in the room above them.
Textbooks, luggage and bedding, among other things, were all damaged from the water.
"Most of our stuff was ruined," Hartley said. "All of our clothes are soaked; all of our shoes are soaked."
Beach, Boulware and Hartley said they are upset the university is doing nothing to compensate them for their belongings or their housing.
"It was mostly personal belongings," Warren said. "The university isn't really responsible."
Hartley said the Residence Hall Director Charles Lowman gave them $10 in quarters to do laundry. She also said that when she called to arrange alternative housing, her voicemail went unreturned. Lowman was not immediately available for comment.
There are a couple of inches of standing water in the bathroom and nothing has been done to drain it, Hartley said.
"The university has insurance and students have been encouraged to check with their parents' homeowners insurance if they did not have their own renter's insurance," Luna said. "So those kind of compensation and restitution issues are still being worked through."
Beyond the damage, Beach, Boulware and Hartley said they are upset with the way the university handled the situation.
"The only thing that I really had a problem with was the way it was all handled," Boulware said. "They only called one of our roommates to let her know what happened and told her to tell the rest of us."
Boulware said a notice was taped to their door, letting them know their room was damaged.
"I think that was a really poor way of correspondence," Boulware said. "They didn't make any effort to notify anybody."
Currently, Boulware is staying with a friend. Beach and Hartley are sharing a room in West Quad. Beach said they are taking turns sleeping in the bed and on an air mattress.
The roommates said the Housing Department told them they would not be reimbursed for the difference if they were to move from West Quad to another dorm and they would have to pay a cancellation fee if they wanted to leave campus housing.
The Quads and the Horseshoe residence halls are the most expensive, at a price of $5,940, according to the University Housing Web site.
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