Opinion: Out of the Ashes Let’s Build Back Better

The fire that consumed two buildings on Olympia Drive this past Friday was, by every measure, a near tragedy. The fact that no lives were lost is a testament to the quick thinking and self-evacuation of residents, the courage of responding firefighters, and more than a little luck. But we cannot let the absence of fatalities become the measure of success. The scale of this event, the speed of the fire’s spread, and the enormous strain it placed on Amherst’s public safety system demand a deeper, more honest conversation about the vulnerabilities we have allowed to take root.

Amherst has been operating with staffing levels, water infrastructure, and risk assumptions that do not align with the realities of a town that doubles in population when UMass is in session. This fire did not create new problems. It exposed old ones.

The firefighters’ union has already made clear what many in the community have long suspected: Amherst has been operating with staffing levels, water infrastructure, and risk assumptions that do not align with the realities of a town that doubles in population when UMass is in session. This fire did not create new problems. It exposed old ones.

Now is the time, before disaster strikes again, to confront those problems with clarity and resolve.

A Town That Outgrew Its Safety Plan
Over the last decade, Amherst has encouraged significant growth in high-occupancy student housing, much of it in dense clusters with difficult access and limited redundancy in water supply. Olympia Place and the under-construction building beside it represent more than 450 beds within a very small footprint. Such density, combined with wood-frame construction, demands robust firefighting capacity and infrastructure. Yet on the night of the fire, Amherst initially had only one career-staffed engine available in the entire town.

As shared by the firefighter’s union, the national standards recommend a full initial response of roughly 28 firefighters for a fire of this type. Amherst deployed four.

This is not a criticism of the fire department. Our firefighters performed heroically under impossible conditions. It is a criticism of the system we, as a community, have allowed to persist.

Where the System Bent, and Nearly Broke
The fire’s spread was amplified by a perfect storm of factors: a combustible construction site, high winds, extremely close proximity between two multi-story wood-frame buildings, and attic spaces without sprinkler protection. Even with functioning hydrants, the available water pressure couldn’t sustain the volume needed to fight a fire of this size. Tanker shuttles were eventually required.

These conditions raise unavoidable questions about whether the permitting process, building-code assumptions, and site-planning decisions fully accounted for worst-case scenarios, or whether we have been relying on minimum code compliance rather than rigorous risk assessment.

When a building houses more than 200 people, I think we can agree that “minimum” is not enough.

Shared Responsibility: The Town, the University, and the Developers
UMass Amherst is a world-class institution and a vital part of our community. But the reality is that the student population places extraordinary demand on municipal fire and EMS services, particularly in off-campus private dorms that the university does not staff or monitor for fire protection.

The current financial arrangements between the town and the university were not designed for this scale of service demand. They must be revisited. The same is true for developer obligations: dense, high-occupancy housing should not proceed without demonstrated fire-flow capacity, adequate access for apparatus, and staffing levels that match the risk.

Growth is not inherently dangerous. Growth without adequate safety planning is.

Questions Amherst Must Ask And Answer
As the town prepares for official reports and investigations, we should be asking our leaders the following: (a more detailed list of questions is available here – but for the sake of brevity, I offer a general recap below)

1. Fire Department Capacity and Staffing

• What is Amherst’s plan to meet nationally recommended staffing levels so that more than one engine is available for life-threatening emergencies?
• How many additional firefighters are needed to meet safe response standards, and what is the timeline for hiring them?

2. Water Infrastructure

• What upgrades are required to ensure that dense residential clusters like Olympia Drive have the water flow and pressure necessary for modern mid-rise buildings?
• Which areas of town are similarly vulnerable, and how will they be prioritized?

3. Building Codes and Land-Use Policy

• Do current codes adequately protect large wood-frame buildings from attic and exposure fires?
• Should Amherst adopt local amendments requiring additional safety measures, such as attic sprinklers, enhanced fire barriers, or greater spacing between major structures?
• What changes in permitting processes are needed to ensure that risk, not only code minimums, guides decision-making?

4. Construction-Site Oversight

• Were construction-phase fire risks at 47 Olympia adequately mitigated?
• Should Amherst require stronger fire-safety controls for major projects adjacent to occupied housing?

5. Town–UMass Collaboration

• How can the university contribute more directly to the staffing and infrastructure needed to support thousands of its students living off-campus?
• Should the town and UMass jointly commission an independent assessment of fire and housing risks affecting both communities?

6. Transparency and Accountability

• Will all planning documents, inspection reports, and the final fire investigation be made public in full?
• What mechanism will ensure that recommendations translate into actual policy, funding, and measurable improvements?

These are not accusatory questions. They are necessary ones.

A Turning Point, If We Choose It
Amherst is a town that prides itself on thoughtful planning, progressive values, and strong community engagement. But Friday’s fire showed that we have underestimated the risks of the built environment we have allowed to grow around us. We cannot afford to do so again.

This is a moment that calls for candor and courage, from the Town Manager, from Town Council, from UMass leadership, from developers, and from all of us who live here. The goal is not blame. The goal is safety, resilience, and responsible stewardship of a community that includes tens of thousands of young people who rely on us.

We were fortunate this time. No one died. That should not lull us into complacency; it should galvanize us into action.

Amherst deserves a public safety system and planning framework that matches the scale and complexity of the community we have become, not the one we once were.

Now is the time to build it.

Read More

No Community Can Ever Be Prepared’: Olympia Place :eft in Rubble After Weekend Inferno. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

3-Olympia Drive – Planning Director Memo and Attachments (SPR2014-00001). (Town of Amherst Planning Department)

E-bike battery likely cause of Amherst blaze that displaces six. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Second Private Dorm Proposed For Olympia Drive.  (Amherst Indy)

Developer proposes five-story apartment complex on Olympia Drive in Amherst (Amherst Bulletin)

Key Requirements for Emergency Services in NFPA 1710 – Fact Sheet (National Fire Protection Association)

NFPA 1710 Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments (National Fire Protection Association)