On Friday, Oct. 17, three UR undergraduates lost their residence to a fire at their apartment at 381 University Avenue. The Rochester Fire Department responded immediately and all 13 people in the building were evacuated safely. The three UR students were juniors Chelsea DeGlopper, Tamara Slater and Sarah Woods. No one was harmed in the fire, and Residential Life officials found on-campus housing for the students in Hill Court.
According to DeGlopper, she, Slater and Woods had attended the Friday Night Fever a cappella concert on Friday evening.
They returned home late and went to bed sometime between 1 and 2 a.m. At around 4 a.m., a passerby noticed the flames on the second floor of the building and called 911.
So far, the cause of the fire is unknown but firemen on the scene suspected that it was caused by a lit cigarette in the garbage.
DeGlopper, Slater and Woods went to a hotel and returned in the morning to retrieve their belongings. Associate Director of Residential Life Karen Ely arrived on the scene to help them pack.
Director of the Office for Residential Life and Housing Services Laurel Contomanolis commented on the occurrence.
‘There is a University-wide Emergency On Call person staffed mostly by Residential Life and Dean of Students Office staff who received a call from Security,” she said. ‘The person on call was a senior professional staff member for Residential Life who has access to room vacancies and other emergency information. Her expertise and experience allowed us to mobilize what was needed to get these students quickly situated.”
‘I am glad that we all got out and am incredibly grateful,” DeGlopper said. ‘The firemen were amazing… the school was so accommodating and made a really horrible situation a lot better.”
Handis is a member of the class of 2009.
