The University of Massachusetts Amherst has announced a variety of immediate resources for students affected by the three-alarm fire that damaged an Olympia Place apartment complex late Friday night and continued into Saturday.
An estimated 230 residents at Olympia Place have been displaced, according to the Amherst Fire Department.
The university is focusing on helping those residents — a majority of whom are UMass Amherst students — with essential needs:
- Dining: Displaced residents have immediate, cost-free access to all UMass Amherst dining commons.
- Emergency Resource Center: An on-campus center has opened exclusively for Olympia Place residents to address needs such as housing, medication, clothing, academic accommodations and counseling.
- Outreach: Staff from Student Affairs and Campus Life (SACL) are actively identifying and contacting those affected to provide support on a case-by-case basis. Affected students will be contacted directly and provided with the center’s location.
“The university is grateful for the support of the multiple agencies that have responded to this tragedy, especially those first responders from the surrounding communities who answered mutual aid calls,” the university said.
The fire was initially reported at around 8:19 p.m. by 911 callers who reported that a four-story building under construction adjacent to Olympia Place was on fire. The blaze quickly spread to nearby buildings at the apartment complex overnight.
In addition to the fire, there were multiple explosions, likely from fuel tanks on the construction site, and one construction crane collapsed, the statement reads.
Second and third alarms were sounded for mutual aid from towns in Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin counties. Firefighters were still on scene as of 3 a.m. Saturday.
Tanker trucks were also requested from numerous communities to help boost the water supply. The Red Cross, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the State Fire Marshal’s office investigators are also on scene.
A Task Force was requested from the state fire mobilization network to send additional units to relieve crews that had been at the fire scene since it was first reported.
There have been no reported injuries, according to the Amherst Fire Department.
“The university, the town of Amherst, and the management company for a privately owned apartment building adjacent to the fire are working to support student renters who are impacted,” the university said on its website. “We are grateful for the community’s support for our students.”
The incident is under investigation.
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