Spring Break
URI campus unites to aid tenants after house fire
Chloe Thompson
Issue date: 4/25/08 Section: News
04/25/08 - After an accidental kitchen fire left three University of Rhode Island sophomores essentially homeless, administrators at the university and one sorority banded together to help get the girls' lives back on track.
The April 1 fire damaged about $25,000 worth of belongings and left $75,000 worth of damage at the 31 Joy Lane residence in Bonnet Shores, according to a police report.
The fire started while the students were making homemade donuts and covered a pot with oil in it. The oil ignited and burned down the kitchen, causing severe smoke damage to the rest of the house in the process. All three residents safely evacuated the house with no injuries.
Resident Danielle van Vierssen, who was on the phone with her mother when the fire began, said, "My initial reaction was 'everybody just get out of the house.'"
At that point, Holly Clark, van Vierssen's roommate, threw a blanket on the flames in the hopes of extinguishing the fire. It worked, momentarily.
"It went out for a minute, and then blew up," Clark said. Smiling, she continued, "For a second, I thought 'Oh my God, I saved the house.'"
Though Clark, van Vierssen and other housemate Brittney Hattoy can cautiously joke about the incident today, all three said there have been hardships since the fire.
"Our entire kitchen is just gone," van Vierssen said.
Later, Clark said, "You can't explain what goes through your mind ... you go into legitimate shock."
The residents are not all from Rhode Island, and receiving new bedding or extra belongings was cumbersome. The Hattoy family, from Coventry, R.I., allowed the girls to stay at their house for a few days. Van Vierssen is from York, S.C., and Clark is from Norfolk, Va.
"We were so unorganized," Hattoy said.
Van Vierssen said the girls had nothing but the clothes on their backs for the first week, and had to send the clothes that could be salvaged to be specially cleaned. The bill for each of them was about $500.
The April 1 fire damaged about $25,000 worth of belongings and left $75,000 worth of damage at the 31 Joy Lane residence in Bonnet Shores, according to a police report.
The fire started while the students were making homemade donuts and covered a pot with oil in it. The oil ignited and burned down the kitchen, causing severe smoke damage to the rest of the house in the process. All three residents safely evacuated the house with no injuries.
Resident Danielle van Vierssen, who was on the phone with her mother when the fire began, said, "My initial reaction was 'everybody just get out of the house.'"
At that point, Holly Clark, van Vierssen's roommate, threw a blanket on the flames in the hopes of extinguishing the fire. It worked, momentarily.
"It went out for a minute, and then blew up," Clark said. Smiling, she continued, "For a second, I thought 'Oh my God, I saved the house.'"
Though Clark, van Vierssen and other housemate Brittney Hattoy can cautiously joke about the incident today, all three said there have been hardships since the fire.
"Our entire kitchen is just gone," van Vierssen said.
Later, Clark said, "You can't explain what goes through your mind ... you go into legitimate shock."
The residents are not all from Rhode Island, and receiving new bedding or extra belongings was cumbersome. The Hattoy family, from Coventry, R.I., allowed the girls to stay at their house for a few days. Van Vierssen is from York, S.C., and Clark is from Norfolk, Va.
"We were so unorganized," Hattoy said.
Van Vierssen said the girls had nothing but the clothes on their backs for the first week, and had to send the clothes that could be salvaged to be specially cleaned. The bill for each of them was about $500.
