Flames and smoke caused over $9000 of damage to room 202 of Chapman House and the corridor outside the second-story room, according to Environmental Health and Safety Director Rick Mears. Furniture, walls, carpeting, the ceiling and some personal belongings were all damaged. No one was injured in the fire.
"We hope to have the room repaired as soon as possible," said Director of Facilities Planning and Management Jim Brassord.
"It really wasn't a major fire at all," said Assistant Chief of Campus Police Edwin M. Zaniewski.
The blaze was noticed by a resident of Chapman at 4:52 a.m., according to Zaniewski. The resident pulled the fire alarm in the building, alerting Campus Police to the situation.
In addition, the resident of room 201 called the Amherst Fire Department to the fire at the South Pleasant St. dorm after he noticed smoke billowing into his dorm room, according to Dominick Usher, area coordinator for Chapman.
The resident fought the fire using a fire extinguisher. As a result of the student's use of the fire extinguisher, most of the fire was already put out by the time fire engines arrived and the fire itself was confined to room 202, according to Mears.
The rest of the fire was quickly brought under control by the Fire Department.
Upon arrival at the scene, the Fire Department "found a free burning fire in a second floor suite involving a couch and personal belongings," reads the Amherst Fire Department's summary report for the media. "[The] fire was confined to the area of origin."
"I feel like the Fire Department was on top of the situation pretty quickly," said Usher.
The dean-on-call, Dean of Students Ben Lieber, was alerted and went to the fire, according to Mears.
"That's standard protocol," Mears said. "Everything went as it was supposed to [in this sort of situation]."
An investigation by the Fire Department has ruled out foul play as the cause of the fire, according to Mears.
The fire started when a halogen bulb lamp in the room accidentally tipped over. The lamp had been left on all night, as the resident of the room had left town for the weekend. The bulb in the halogen lamp hit a cardboard box on the ground. The box caught on fire, which spread to the rest of the room.
All the residents of Chapman were evacuated when the fire was discovered. Some were already away for the weekend, and others opted to leave the College for the weekend as facilities crews repaired the damage.
The residents have returned to their rooms and the Office of Residential Life is aiding the resident of the damaged room to find housing until her room is repaired.
Repairs will take approximately one week, according to Director of Physical Plant Jim Brassord. A new window needs to be installed and the entire room must be cleaned and painted. "We hope to have the room repaired as soon as possible," said Brassord.
School officials have stressed that the fire could have been avoided. In order to avoid future accidents, College officials are asking students to be more careful about the type of items they use in their rooms.
"I urge students to go through their rooms and make sure there are no items that are against the student handbook," said Mears.
Halogen lamps are banned from the College's residence halls.
"The best thing I can do is take an inventory of what people have in their rooms. Generally, having been through the building, I hadn't noticed any candles or halogen lamps," said Usher. "We would hope that people would follow the rules of the College."