Fifty-seven Central Connecticut State University students spent the night in a hotel Monday into Tuesday following a fire in the F. Don James Residence Hall on campus.
According to the university, the fire marshal's office has determined the cause of the fire to be electrical. It started just after 6 p.m. on Monday. Some students that live in the dorm, were in class.
“They were like, 'there was a fire' and I was like 'you’re joking, that’s not real' because the alarm goes off, you know, and it's not always serious,” said Maya Monteiro, who got a call from roommates while she was in class.
She said she went rushing back to the dorm a few minutes later.
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“I was freaking out a little, trying to stay calm, so I came over but they wouldn’t let you even near the building obviously for safety reasons, so I called my parents, told them what’s up,” Monteiro said.
Monteiro lives on the second floor. Lucky for her, she said her brother lives a few dorms away and was able to stay with him overnight.
“It's scary. Definitely. You know, to think that an electrical fire is going to start. I was worried about hot water, I was worried about the smoke, I was worried about sleeping there, if it's even safe to be inhaling in,” fellow dorm resident Audrey Lane said.
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The New Britain Fire Department was able to respond to the residence hall within two minutes of the first call, according to the school. Students were displaced for a few hours, but were able to get back inside around 9 p.m. to assess the damage.
CCSU had 57 students that live on the bottom two floors stay in a hotel overnight, and that hotel option was available to the other residents in the dorm.
The residence hall is home to a total of 350 students, school officials said.
“The building has been released to us by authorities, it is safe to go back in,” Associate Vice President of Communications and Media Jodi Latina said.
School officials said the physical damage was limited to the lobby and its ceiling. Overnight into Tuesday, the focus was on airing out the dorm.
“More smoke than anything in the rooms, they were airing out last night and back today airing out and that seems to be kind of the residuals,” Latina said.
According to the university, students that would like to spend another night at the hotel are welcome to. Though as of early Tuesday afternoon, no students have requested to take the school up on the hotel option.
CCSU officials said this scenario is why residence halls drill for fire events, and in this case, students reacted well to the emergency.
“We practice this several times a year, there are drills, and students did exactly what they are supposed to do, several of them pulled fire alarms on the first and second floor and that alerted the rest of the building,” Latina said.
Monteiro, who lives on the second floor, said the damage appeared to be limited after she was able to do a quick assessment herself, so she plans to be back inside.
“There is definitely a smell on the first floor, not in my dorm, thank god, it's on the other side of where the fire happened,” Monteiro said.
The university said laundry services will be free for students living inside the dorm.
Any work not completed on the residence hall this week will be finished up over spring break, which is set to start this weekend.
