By Scotty Schenck, photo editor
As the night of Wednesday, Feb. 4 came to a close, students inside the West Village B residence hall were forced into the cold night air as firemen rushed into the building. Residents reported seeing smoke and were standing outside for over an hour before the Boston Fire Department (BFD) let them back inside. No injuries have been reported.
Boston Fire Department reports that the incident is still under investigation.
Sophomore economics major Sam Higley was watching the movie “Mud,” when he heard the alarm to go downstairs at approximately 11:25 p.m. He grabbed his jacket and headed out of his room to go down the stairs when he noticed smoke.
“We got into the hallway, there was this smoky feeling. Once we got down to the first floor, there was none,” Higley said.
Senior Biology major Lyndie Parker, who lives on the sixth floor of West Village B, stood outside in sandals and a coat, noting that she left swiftly and didn’t have the time to find her boots.
“It would be nice to know what’s going on,” Parker said “I’m freezing… It’s ridiculous that we’re standing out here and they’re not telling us to go somewhere.”
Third-year nursing major Ellie Giovanetti, who lives on the third floor, stood next to Parker in a coat and boots, with her backpack, carrying snacks and her laptop. She said that when the first fire alarm went off, she looked outside of her room and did not see smoke, thinking it was a drill.
However, when the second alarm when off, she noticed there was smoke. As she left, Giovanetti described the smoke as “heavier as she went down.”
“There was two alarms [sic], the first one that went off was ‘don’t react until the alarm goes off a second time.’ … When it first went off I screamed because it startled me,” Giovanetti said. “There was too much time between the first and second alarm: enough time to screw you over.”
Giovanetti recalled she had seen police officers standing outside talking to groups of students.
“[A] cop came out, I think he was NUPD, and he’s like ‘seventh floor, we need to talk to you guys, over there,’” Giovanetti said as she pointed to the West Village Quad, where an NUPD car was parked. “Seventh floor is probably not having a fun night, probably worse than our night.”
Several other groups of residents had started conversation outside in the 35-degree weather. One such group was junior Jimmy George, third-years Morgan Crush and Jessie Litwin and Boston College senior Taylor Blake. Blake and George were visiting Crush and Litwin, in their room, on the third floor, on Feb. 4. Crush and Litwin were discussing if they would be able to sleep in their room tonight.
“They told us they had no ETA, and that we should try and go to the library or find a [friend’s dorm] to stay at for the night,” Crush said, just minutes before students were allowed to enter back into the residence hall.
George had left before the fire alarms began to blare, but returned when he heard the news to be with his friends.
“I thought I heard ‘looks like no one’s sleeping here tonight,’” George said. “The top corner room of West B looks dark [and] smoky.”
The News will update this page as more information becomes available.
Photo by Scotty Schenck, photo editor.
