The Office of Residential Life has been fielding offers of help from concerned students after a downtown fire displaced a dozen classmates and gutted a popular off-campus eatery.
Jennifer Adams, director of residential life, said the university is providing alternative housing and temporary meal plans to students affected by the Monday night fire that damaged four apartments above the Parkside Deli, on Broad Street in downtown Hamilton.
Adams said students also are being provided with essentials such as bedding and are being loaned computers. Emergency loans are available to students to help tide them over as insurance claims are processed.
Mark Shiner, university chaplain, has been in contact with Parkside owners Carolyn Gherardi and Craig Di Battista. Students, many of whom frequent the café, have contacted school officials looking for ways to show support for the owners.
Gherardi said they have signed a temporary lease for a space that was recently vacated by the Pizza Place restaurant, just a few doors down on Broad Street, and they plan to be back in operation before Thanksgiving.
Nobody was injured in the fire, which broke out around 10 p.m. and is still under investigation.
Ten students living in four apartments above the deli were displaced, along with two students from a nearby apartment that also suffered smoke damage.
The fire turned a quiet night into a chaotic night for four roommates living in the apartment directly above the deli.
E.J. Atamian ’08 said he and his roommates smelled something, but originally thought the odor was coming from a new lamp. They looked out a rear window of their apartment and saw flames coming from the back of the deli.
Atamian called 911 and he and his roommates – fellow seniors Corey Hinton, Andrew Bevan, and Scott Gourlay — started knocking on doors to alert students living in the other apartments.
“We got everyone out, and then it was pretty scary watching the flames from outside,” said Atamian. “We didn’t know if the fire was going to go through our entire apartment. Everything we have is in that apartment.”
Joe Caprio, who manages the apartments, commended the four students for their actions.
“They were very responsible in how they handled the situation,” he said. “I complimented them that night on doing a super job.”
The students are now going through their possessions, attempting to rid clothes and bedding of the smoke and soot that covered everything and trying to determine if their TV, computers, stereo, guitar amplifier, an Xbox, and other items will be salvageable.
Atamian, Hinton, and Gourlay play on the vlog lacrosse team, and while the season has yet to start, they have been training.
“To have this happen now, with classes and training, it’s a lot,” said Atamian.
The four are staying temporarily at the vlog Inn and are looking for another downtown apartment, although the university has secured a room for them at the University Court Apartments complex. Other students are staying at the Theta Chi and Sigma Chi houses on Broad Street.
Adams said her office has received calls from students looking to organize clothing drives and food drives, or wanting to help in any way possible. No plans have been finalized.