A fire broke out in a room in Craven Quadrangle House B at approximately 6:20 p.m. Thursday. Officials said the incident was caused by a futon catching on fire. No students were injured.
Sierra Jackson, public affairs specialist for the Durham Fire Department, said the fire appeared accidental and it is still under investigation. Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta told The Chronicle in an e-mail Sunday that the blaze seemed to be caused by "careless smoking."
The two occupants of the room were not present when the fire began. Both students declined to comment for this story.
After firefighters arrived on the scene Thursday, they removed the still-burning futon from Craven and extinguished the flames outside.
"The fire response was outstanding, and everyone did an incredible job to respond safely and get students a place to stay for the night," said Deb LoBiondo, assistant dean for residence life.
The proximity of the room to Few Quadrangle caused many Few residents to smell the smoke, LoBiondo said. Despite the fire wall installed between Craven and Few, the fire department decided to evacuate Few after they arrived on the scene.
Emergency response company AfterDisaster was hired by the University to repair the fire damage and remove the smoke odor. The company started the cleanup process Thursday night and finished the next day, LoBiondo said.
The fire damage was contained in the room where the fire started, and the building was not damaged structurally, Moneta said. He added that only the walls in the room were charred and the occupants' belongings damaged.
Two surrounding rooms also suffered minor smoke damage, and four additional students in Craven B were relocated as smoke odors were eliminated, LoBiondo said. The displaced students were all offered empty rooms on West Campus to live in and store their belongings, but some declined and chose to stay with friends instead, she added.
Sophomore James Zhou lives next door to the room in Craven B and was present when the fire started. When he realized the room next door was on fire, he ran upstairs to grab a fire extinguisher and entered the room to try to put it out, he said.
"All I could see was the futon [on fire]," Zhou said. "It was really smoky and I couldn't really breathe."
After discharging the fire extinguisher, Zhou left Craven and tried to extinguish the fire through the room's first-floor window before the fire department arrived.
The cleanup process for the surrounding rooms was expected to finish over the weekend in time for the four students to move back in, LoBiondo said.
Sophomore Tony Thomas, one of the displaced students, said although the cleanup was finished in his room, the strange odor of the product used to remove the smoke smell has prevented him and his roommate from moving back into their room.
"Technically we can be in [the room]-it just smells really weird," Thomas said. "They haven't actually told us how long [the product will] be in there."
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