Second Ujamaa fire in three weeks forces evacuations

Nov. 12, 2018, 12:02 a.m.

Around 3 a.m. on Friday, residents of Ujamaa House in the Lagunita residential complex were evacuated after a fire was reported in a resident’s room.

According to Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUPD) spokesperson Bill Larson, no one was injured, and smoke damage occurred in only the room of the fire. Larson added that fire sprinklers were activated in the affected room and that the building was entirely evacuated until 7:30 a.m., at which point some residents were able to return.

According to Larson, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The Friday fire comes two and a half weeks after an electrical fire in Ujamaa on the evening of Oct. 21. According to a resident, Friday’s fire occurred in the room adjacent to the room in which the fire occurred on Oct. 21.

“It was kind of inconvenient because the fire happened when most of us were sleeping,” said  Ruth-Ann Armstrong ’21, another Ujamaa resident and a writer for The Daily. “It was also surprising because the last fire was so recent.”

According to Armstrong, the affected room was in the B wing of Ujamaa. Residents of the A wing were able to return to their rooms before residents of the B wing could do so. Armstrong, a resident of the B wing, added that she was unable to return to her room until 10 a.m.

The Daily has reached out to the Ujamaa RAs and RF for comment.

This report will be updated as more details and perspectives come to light.

 

Contact Karen Kurosawa at karen16 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Karen is a Desk Editor for the University beat. She is also a member of The Daily's Special Projects team, where she works on initiatives including The Stanford Daily Winter Externship. Contact her at karen16 'at' stanford.edu.

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