Spring Break
Grease fire at University Crossings causes water damage, inconvenience to residents
Kaushal Toprani
Issue date: 6/2/06 Section: News
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Jose Riera, director of Residential Living, said that no students were hurt in the incident.
The fire broke out when students were cooking. A resident threw the cooking grease into the sink, and the fire started.
"The students in the affected apartment were relocated to another apartment in the building," Riera said. "No one else was displaced."
Melissa Impagliazzo, property manager of University Crossings, claimed that water, not the fire, caused the only damage to the building.
While students were evacuating the building, the lobby area was flooded with water that leaked from the ceiling and the light fixtures. Students had to walk through water a few inches deep in order to exit the building.
The emergency alarm sounded at 5:30 p.m., and residents were allowed back into the building around 6:15 p.m.
Several students returning to their apartments from the Memorial Day weekend were inconvenienced by having to carry multiple bags of luggage through the water. In addition, the elevators were not in service for quite some time.
"I just got back," said Savannah Trump, a senior majoring in computer engineering. "I live on the 13th floor, and now I have to take all this stuff up 13 flights."
The second-floor apartment, the adjacent apartments and the lobby were all damaged because of the incident.
Impagliazzo said that only water damage was done to the living room and ceiling in the apartment where the fire originated.
"The sprinkler head was immediately repaired, and the carpet company came out right away and ripped up the carpets in the apartment itself," Impagliazzo said. "All other carpet areas that were wet were extracted to prevent any kind of mold or mildew."
"The two surrounding rooms only had some wet carpets, and we were able to get the carpet company out immediately to extract water," Impagliazzo said.
Impagliazzo said there was drywall damage done to the lobby that needed to be fixed. She also noted that all the repairs would be finished by the end of the week, and the residents would be able to move back into their apartments by the weekend.
Jeremy Johnson, head of the Computer Science Department, said that none of his department's equipment stored on the first floor of University Crossings was damaged.
Impagliazzo was pleased with the response that everyone had given to the situation.
"I am satisfied with [the] quick responses of all our staff, the Philadelphia Police and Fire departments as well as contractors whose help allowed us to get things back to normal and help take care of the situation at hand properly and professionally," she said.
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