In the early morning hours of Sept. 5, a fire traveled from the basement of 90 Westland Ave., where I live, up the ventilation, and exploded through the roof in ten-foot flames. Alarms blared in the building, but I might not have woken up if my roommate didn’t shake me and yell to run outside, where we stood in our pajamas, some with bare feet, clutching our laptops and looking up in awe as the top of our building glowed a hot orange.
It didn’t take long for the 75 firemen to put out the fire, but at 3 a.m. it felt like forever until the sirens stopped, where I could hear them from my roommate’s friend’s nearby apartment. I only slept for two hours on a mattress on her floor, shaking with nightmares about returning to my room and what I would find there. We didn’t know until the next morning that we had been extremely lucky and our things had been safe in our third-floor unit – but there were others in the building who lost everything.
That night, before we even knew we would have to find somewhere else to live while the building’s now-absent roof was repaired (among many other things), my roommates had gotten in touch with Northeastern through their emergency contact line. The officials from the school were concerned, understood we needed serious help, and by the next morning, thanks to the housing and residential staff, we were offered on-campus housing together until our situation was resolved.
When misfortune like this strikes, it’s easy to tell who your real friends are. Many people I know reached out to me to offer a couch or a hand, and I’ve never felt more grateful that I have so many kind people in my life. But overwhelmingly, even with caring friends, I know that without the help of Northeastern I would be struggling to put the pieces of my life back together.
This is a big school with an over-full freshmen class, and it is surely the busiest time of year for school employees. But just a few hours after the fire, the school excelled in caring for those of us who suddenly found ourselves in an unfathomable situation.
At 8 a.m., less than five hours after the flames were extinguished, David Winch, from Northeastern’s WeCare program, emailed the building’s residents who attend Northeastern to make sure we were safe and asked us to reach out to him for help. At 11 a.m., housing staff was working to find us a spot in on-campus housing, and by 2 p.m. we had a place to sleep, bedding and meal passes. And today, Mayor Menino’s office is hosting a meeting in the Curry Student Center for those of us who have been affected.
At a university with 15,000 undergraduate students, it’s easy to feel overlooked by the administration. But when it really counted, Northeastern saw those of us affected as individuals, and I commend them for lending a sturdy hand to their own. After this experience, I know it’s not the global learning or experiential education that make me proud to be a Husky, but the efforts by those at the school who provided help and a support system when it was truly needed.

– Rachel Zarrell is a senior journalism major and a member of The News staff.