Dorm Fire at UMass Displaces 165 Students
Wheeler Residence Hall, UMass Amherst. Photo: Special Collections and University Archives, UMass.
Source: Amherst Fire Chief Lindsay Stromgren
A fire at Wheeler Dormitory at UMass on Sunday Morning (8/31) displaced 165 students. There were no injuries to residents nor to firefighters. The time frame for being able to reoccupy the building is unknown.
Amherst Fire Department (AFD) received a call from the UMass Police Department at 5:09 a.m. reporting a fire alarm sounding at the Wheeler Residence Hall, located at 141 Thatcher Road, on the UMass campus. While AFD was responding to the call, an occupant of the building called 911 to report smoke on the first floor of the building. A box alarm was sounded for all on and off-duty Amherst firefighters. First arriving crews encountered moderate smoke on the first floor. The building was evacuated and crews advanced a hose line to locate the source of the smoke. The source of the smoke was traced to a fire in an electrical panel in a mechanical room on the basement level. Crews stood by while electricians from UMass shutoff power to the building, and went room to room to make sure all students had evacuated the building. A few were found still sleeping and were told to leave. The fire was extinguished after power was disconnected to the electrical panel. Crews spent the next hour ventilating the building and conducting an investigation along with fire investigators from the State Fire Marshall’s office.
The fire involved an electrical panel that includes circuit breakers and other electronics. The cause of the failure is being investigated. Approximately 165 students were displaced, and were temporarily sheltered in a nearby residence hall and dining hall. UMass officials are working to isolate the damaged circuits, and restore full power to the building so that the residence hall can be reoccupied.
The fire department was assisted on scene by the UMass Police, UMass Office of Environmental Safety, and personnel from UMass Residence Life and Facilities. During the fire another EMS call was handled in Amherst by a mutual aid ambulance from Hadley.
All Amherst Fire personnel cleared the scene at 7:45am.