Amherst fire displaces 230 people, spreads to multiple buildings

AMHERST — A raging fire on Olympia Drive that started Friday night and took crews nearly 24 hours to bring under control destroyed a five-story apartment building where some 230 people lived along with a neighboring building construction site where the fire began shortly after 8 p.m.

Firefighters from throughout the area battled the blaze originally reported Friday at 8:19 p.m. through most of the day Saturday before Amherst Fire Chief Lindsay Stromgren said it was under control at around 7 p.m.

Stromgren said in a Saturday night press release that fire crews were not able to enter the unstable apartment building and were expected to continue to extinguish the fire from the exterior while demolition crews tore down the structure. That work was expected to be completed Sunday morning.

He said there were no injuries, and that the fire was under investigation but not deemed suspicious.

The town on Saturday afternoon declared a state of emergency and asked residents to stop nonessential water use to help conserve water for firefighting operations. Officials said that more than 1 million gallons of water had been used as of 6 p.m. in these efforts, and it will take some days to recover the town’s water levels. The state of emergency will ensure that the town has access to any emergency state or federal funds that may be available to the displaced residents, property owner, and the town.

Meanwhile, UMass officials issued a statement that “the university, the town of Amherst, regional aid agencies, including MEMA, and the Olympia Drive management company are working to support students who are impacted. The university is grateful for the community’s support for our students.”

Intensity, high winds, explosions

First arriving units on scene Friday found a building that was under construction at 47 Olympia Drive fully involved in fire. The intensity of the fire along with the wind caused it to spread to the nearby building at 57 Olympia Drive, known as Olympia Place, occupied mostly by college-age students. The building at 47 Olympia Drive collapsed during the fire.

According to the Amherst Fire Department, there were multiple explosions, likely from fuel tanks on the construction site, and one construction crane collapsed.

The site is located off East Pleasant Street and next to Village Park Apartments, and less than a half mile from the North Fire Station and UMass Police Station.

By Saturday at noon, Associated Wreckers was in the midst of demolishing the building to get at the remaining hot spots, starting by tearing off the siding on a building where parts of the roof had already caved in.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman, speaking at a meeting at the Amherst Regional Middle School with representatives from the four towns that make up the regional school district Saturday morning, called it a “pretty tragic scene.” He thanked the surrounding towns, including Pelham, which sent a brand new fire engine.

“It’s a great loss for the people who live there and the property owner,” Bockelman said.

The fire attack was hampered by poor water pressure in the area, Stromgren said.

Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, there were many onlookers, including some from the nearby Olympia Oaks apartments, which had its own fire in early September that displaced six residents. Some were wearing protective masks due to the smoke still pouring from the site.

A number of UMass students were also watching the fire, including some who have called Olympia Place their home.

Call for help

The UMass Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life on Saturday was identifying and contacting those most directly affected by the fire to provide support on a case-by-case basis. 

“Olympia Place residents have immediate access to all dining commons at no cost, and an on-campus emergency resource center will be opened at noon today to centralize critical student needs including housing, medication, clothing, academic accommodations, counseling, and more,” the office said in an email. 

Public updates and resident resources will be added at https://www.umass.edu/news/olympia-drive-fire-response throughout the coming days and weeks. 

A second and third alarm were sounded for mutual aid on Friday night and multiple towns from Hampshire, Hamden and Franklin County were on scene fighting the fire. Tanker trucks also were requested from numerous communities to help boost the water supply.

The size of the response included crews from as far away as Sturbridge, Southwick and Charlton, Bockelman said.

The Red Cross, MEMA, and the State Fire Marshal investigators were on scene and a task force was requested from the state fire mobilization network to send additional
units to the fire scene to relieve the crews that have been there since the fire was first
reported, according to the Amherst Fire Department.

Olympia Place opened in September 2016 with 75 units with 236 beds, one of several buildings that Archipelago Investments has constructed, mostly in downtown Amherst.

Olympia Drive is part of what had been known as Fraternity-Sorority Park and the new building, under construction for several months, was on the site of a former sorority house. and next to the Mather Building, which houses the UMass Undergraduate Admissions Office.

Fires at apartment buildings have taken place over the years in Amherst, with a 2014 fire at the former Southpoint Apartments on East Hadley Road displacing 54 residents and a 2013 at Rolling Green Apartments on Belchertown Road displacing 30 residents and killing one tenant.

How to help

To help the displaced residents financially, officials ask people to donate to the Student Care and Emergency Response Fund which goes toward supporting students with emergency needs. At this time, physical donations should not be brought to campus, as service agencies are providing support to those in need. 

Those who can offer support for temporary or longer-term housing are encouraged to contact Amherst Innovative Living at 413-992-2000. 

Additionally, an Olympia Clothing and Food Drive has been established asking people to donate coats, scarves, hats, gloves, long-sleeve shirts, sweat pants and jeans, along with canned foods, snacks and packaged or boxed goods. Donation locations on the UMass campus are at the SORC office in the Student Union (food and clothing); at the Rec Center, 161 Commonwealth Ave. (clothing); and at RA offices around campus (clothing).