As the roof of 15 Seminary Ave. burned away, firefighters had no immediate way of telling if any of five Binghamton University students were trapped inside the West Side home in the early morning of March 26.
“There was a rented movie sitting there on the table — food, half-full beer bottles — it looked like somebody had just left,” said Binghamton Fire Marshal Dan Eggleston.
Binghamton University students Steven Jimenez, Mark Macyk, Cliff Nguyen, John Sullivan and Doug Vanella, the only residents, had actually left town less than a week earlier, when BU recessed for spring break. Thanks to their absence, no injuries were reported in the two-alarm blaze, which was called in at 5:47 a.m. and answered by five engine companies.
It took 1 hour, 15 minutes to extinguish the fire, but over five hours more to confirm that none of the students were in the house.
“We were quite concerned for a long time because we couldn’t find the boys,” Eggleston said. “The entire roof was gone … and a lot of the areas of the building weren’t structurally sound where we could go and check [for them].”
According to Eggleston, the fire was not suspicious and was likely caused by an electrical malfunction, but a cause has yet to be officially determined.
“Accidents happen all the time, accidental fires start all the time,” he said.
He estimated the building to be 80 years old.
HOW IT BEGAN
The fire, which started in the back of the house and destroyed all of the roof and most of the second floor, had been going for a considerable time before it was reported. With no students in the house to take notice of any alarms, neighbors only noticed the fire once the roof became engulfed.
“Around 5 a.m. I heard a garbage truck wailing on his horn,” said Philip Sampey of 14 Seminary Ave. “I thought somebody had just double-parked in front of him or something.”
Eggleston said he believed the students had the necessary precautionary equipment, including smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher.
Scott Abramo of Binghamton, the property owner, was alerted to the fire by city officials around 6 a.m. and began calling the residents when he arrived at the house shortly after, but did not have all the students’ phone numbers with him. A call chain began, but one resident, Vanella, still remained unaccounted for until after 11 a.m.
Fear for Vanella was exacerbated by the fact that the fire began around his room at the back of the second floor and did the most damage there.
“I was extremely concerned actually because it started in Doug’s room, but I assumed everyone had gone home for break,” Abramo said. “But you can’t be sure until you speak with them.”
Vanella was safely home in Long Island, but had turned off his phone when a friend and former resident of 15 Seminary Ave. called to alert him about the fire.
“I thought it was weird that Greg Lepkoff was calling me at 7 a.m. I thought he wanted to talk about fantasy baseball,” Vanella said. “I wake up at 11 a.m., see Mark texted me, ‘Good thing you brought the Playstation 2 home.’ I see the next message, Sullivan goes, ‘House burned down.’ They thought I was dead.”
The four residents whose bedrooms were on the second floor lost almost all their possessions.
“I couldn’t believe anything, it was unreal,” Vanella said. “I didn’t realize how bad it really was … Everyone else was looking through their stuff, trying to find stuff. I’m just looking through my room trying to find anything. I bought a baseball mitt two weeks ago. It’s all little things.”
Jimenez, who was known to be on vacation in Mexico, did not hear the news until Saturday night.
THE AFTERMATH
All the residents were without renter’s insurance. Though the fire did less damage to the first floor directly, water damage and, without a roof, weather damage took their tolls in the days following.
Abramo worked with other local landlords to secure housing for the students, which allowed the students to settle Sunday night before classes resumed Monday.
“I contacted several local landlords who had vacancies and had a great response,” Abramo said. “It’s just people being decent — my my, what a concept.”
The University also offered housing to the students.
Through the assistance of Off Campus College and Stephanie Adamec, one of its assistant directors, the residents were able to receive financial support from a University discretionary fund, as well as from local organizations, including the Red Cross Southern Tier Chapter and the Newman Association, BU’s Roman Catholic community.
“Everyone’s been very very good, from the landlords to the teachers,” said Macyk, a Pipe Dream editor. “Anyone I’ve said anything to has been very very helpful.”
The aftermath, however, has remained difficult.
“It just gets annoying,” Vanella said. “Everyone’s like, ‘how’s your house?’ And you say it a billion times, over and over and over.”
As for the house itself, if over 50 percent of it was damaged, a likelihood, it will have to be razed in compliance with city regulations, according to Abramo, but an official decision has to yet be made. He said the house was insured.
Eggleston said he did not anticipate any liability issues arising from the fire.
“You can take anybody to civil court for anything, but it’s old wiring, it’s an 80-year-old building,” he said. “If an old wire went, I don’t normally hear of liability. It’s just bad luck for the students.”
Both Abramo and Eggleston were reminded of another West Side fire, on Leroy Street in 2001, that took BU student Evelio Figueroa’s life.
“It may have been different if the kids were there,” Eggleston said.