Adiva Agarwal CM ’29 was the first of her roommates to wake up when the fire alarm started blaring just before 8 a.m. in Marks Hall at Claremont McKenna College last Tuesday.
“All our beds are lofted to the highest height,” she said. “So we jumped like spiderwomen and ran.”
According to Agarwal, as she and her roommates fled their room into the hallway, they were enveloped by smoke.
On Sept. 2, a small fire erupted on the second floor of Marks Hall. The fire was probably caused by a malfunctioning portable power bank being charged through a power strip, CMC’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Sharon Basso said in an email to the campus community last Tuesday.
Although most residents were able to reenter their dorms after 9:30 a.m., 11 students living in the west wing on the second floor of Marks were pulled into a meeting with members of CMC’s Dean of Students (DOS) team.
These students were told that there was severe water damage to their five residence rooms due to the sprinklers, and that they would have to be moved to temporary housing while repairs were being conducted.
“That’s when it […] hit me that this was actually real,” Katie Luong CM ’29 said.
The 11 students were quickly moved into temporary rooms in Mid Quad, and the DOS team provided short-term necessities like chargers, bathroom essentials and snacks.
“I was kind of shocked by how fast they were able to take a hold of the situation,” Amber Zhang CM ’29 said. “We were moved into a new room, maybe an hour or two after everything had happened. They’ve done a lot to make sure that we have everything we need.”
All five displaced students that spoke to TSL said that because of the sprinklers, anything they left on the floor of their rooms was drenched in water, some to the point of being unsalvageable. Lost or damaged items included clothes, shoes, rugs, furniture and electronic items.
However, the DOS team worked closely with impacted students to start the reimbursement process for damaged items, launder any salvageable wet items and shuttle them to Target to purchase essentials throughout the week, all paid for by CMC.
There was one more immediate concern — legal documents. According to Agarwal, international students in the affected wing of Marks had additional cause for concern about the safety of their documents.
“The one thing that was the most scary for us was passports,” Agarwal said. “We at one point did not care about anything else, and we just ran — when they allowed us to go back — and were finding our passports to ensure that those were safe.”
The DOS team stayed in constant communication with the displaced students, according to all five that spoke to TSL, whether over email, through individual calls or during in-person meetings.
“We were constantly emailed about what is happening currently in the dorms,” Agarwal said. “[DOS staff] kept checking up on us. We had regular messaging, regular contact with them.”
Saanvi Sakthivel CM ’29 also said the dorm’s Resident Assistants provided immense support, and that they immediately made a group chat with the affected students, held open door hours and brought donuts for the entire dorm.
“That kind of presence is very appreciated,” Sakthivel said. “It makes it a little easier, with everything going on.”
After hearing that Luong’s parents were worried about the situation, CMC Dean of Students Jimmy Doan asked if he could have her mom’s phone number so he could personally update her about the fire.
“I think my mom’s phone call with Jimmy actually made her feel a lot more comfortable with the situation,” Luong said. “That just goes to show how much DOS and the CMC community in general really cares about their students and students’ families.”
Despite the support and communication, the temporary housing situation wore students down.
“I was just under the impression that we’d be back in [Marks] by the end of the week,” Sakthivel said. “But as the week kept going on, I [realized] we’re not going to be back very soon.”
Seven days after the fire, Senior Assistant Dean of Students for Residential Life and Student Engagement Jenny Tyniec notified displaced students via email that all of their rooms were ready to be reoccupied — with the exception of one of the single rooms.
“You are able to move back to your rooms right away,” Tyniec wrote. “Please keep in mind that there will be ongoing construction in the lounge, stairwell and hallways over the next few days.”
Although Luong said that she felt unsure about when she and her roommates would be able to move back into their dorm during the week after the fire, she still felt supported.
“We didn’t have a super clear timeline or framework on how long rehousing would take, but I think they physically [and] emotionally supported us as much as they could,” Luong said. “If it were any other school, we wouldn’t have gotten the same kind of support.”
The student who lives in the room where the fire began declined to comment on this story.
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