AMHERST — Three Brandywine Apartments residents are displaced for the rest of the spring semester after a fire damaged their home, while 10 others who live at the North Amherst apartment complex are getting temporary housing after four other units were flooded in separate incidents early Saturday morning, according to the Amherst Fire Department.
At 2:01 a.m., emergency dispatchers were notified about a fire on the back side of Unit 2 at Brandywine Apartments, a complex located off Meadow Street next to Townehouse Apartments.
Fire crews that got to the scene first discovered a fire on the wooden back porch of a third-floor apartment, which extended into the walls and ceiling of that home, said Fire Chief Lindsay Stromgren. While the blaze was put out, firefighters spent two hours removing walls and ceilings to access the fire that had penetrated the walls.
There was moderate damage to the one apartment and its porch, but the rest of the building was unaffected. By 5 a.m., all occupants of the rest of the building were allowed to return to their apartments, but the three tenants of the damaged apartment, who were home at the time of the fire and were not injured, were given alternative housing by Brandywine management.
They will likely not be able to return to their apartment for the remainder of the semester, Stromgren said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, though it was determined to have started on the porch.
Shortly after crews responded to the fire, the department received a report of flooding in building 11 at Brandywine. There, the main water service to that building failed, and water flooded four apartments that are below grade.
The Amherst water department responded to shut off water to that building. The flooded apartments are currently not habitable and the 10 residents are being assisted by the University of Massachusetts to find housing.
People living at the remaining eight apartments in that building were allowed to return, but had no water until Brandywine’s management got repairs done over the weekend.
The fire department was assisted on scene at both incidents by Amherst police officers, the Amherst Water Department and the town building inspector.
Amherst Firefighters Local 1764 issued a statement from President Sarah Forsaith elaborating on the challenges the firefighters faced, with two career firefighters on both engines that responded, and other units responding from the hospital. Other staff on duty was committed to other medical calls at the time.
