Homestead fire destroys residence of eight students

By Matt Rupel

A two-alarm fire, housing eight Santa Clara students, consumed a house on Homestead Rd. Sunday morning.

Of the eight Nu Alpha Kappa members, five were home at the time, along with one non-tenant. All were able to escape the building unharmed, although most of the tenants' possessions were destroyed, along with the house.

"We basically left with the clothes on our backs," said senior Armando Delgado-Lopez, one of the residents of the house. "Some of us didn't even have shoes on our feet."

The fire, which is believed to have been caused by a wall heater, began at 1044 Homestead Rd. at approximately 5:30 a.m. on April 18. The fire was noticed by junior Giovanni Campos, who alerted the rest of the residents. They tried to put out the fire, but quickly realized it was too big for them to manage, so they called 911 and exited the building.

"We basically woke up to this fire and got out of the house as quickly as we could," said junior Jesse Rizzo, a house occupant.

Firefighters arrived on the scene at 5:52 a.m. and it took the firefighters nearly an hour to get the fire under control. They remained on the scene until 11 a.m. to completely extinguish the flames.

Santa Clara Fire Department Spokesperson Dave Parker was astonished that no one got hurt in the large fire.

"The students heard the alarm and they had the sense to get out," Parker said.

According to Parker, the fire was so hot that when the first engine arrived on the scene and entered the building to make sure no one was trapped, there was a small explosion inside the building that hit the firefighters.

"Luckily everyone was wearing good protective gear and no one was hurt," he said.

The eight students are being offered temporary residence in St. Clare residence hall for the week in order to make arrangements for the future.

The university is also helping to provide the necessary materials for the students to finish the quarter, according to Ngoc Nguyen-Mains, the assistant dean for the Office of Student Life.

"We're helping the students with loans for textbooks to finish the quarter and some basic office supplies," she said.

Other departments and student organizations are looking to help too.

University President Michael Engh, S.J., sent out a campus-wide e-mail notifying undergraduate students of the fire.

"This past Sunday, we received the difficult news that a fire broke out and destroyed an off-campus student residence," Engh said in the e-mail.

"Various campus departments responded quickly in providing meal tickets, basic school supplies and university housing to the displaced students," he continued. "The Office of Student Life is also mobilizing a gift card collection drive so the students can purchase clothing, shoes and other incidentals."

According to Nguyen-Mains, almost everything that the students had was destroyed in the fire and the students are in need of things like gift cards to places where they can get basic necessities.

The students voiced their thanks for all of the support they have received.

"I just want to emphasize how helpful the Santa Clara community has been to us and how grateful we are to them," said Delgado-Lopez.

The fire displaced a total of eight Santa Clara students; seniors Armando Delgado-Lopez and Gerardo Romo-Gonzalez; juniors Giovanni Campos, Jesse Rizzo and Efren Gonzalez; sophomores Eduardo Batres, Bernardo Navarette and Jesse Blea. Non-tenant and sophomore Joseph Gudino was also in the house at the time of the fire.

Contact Matt Rupel at mrupel@scu.edu or (408) 554-4546.