Seven of the students displaced by Sunday’s West Union Street Fire will be staying in residence hall rooms on campus.
It was a normal Saturday night for Kelley McAndrews and girlfriend Grace Swihart, as they watched TV and ate pumpkin pie in his apartment above Kismet, 16 W. Union St.
But by 4:15 a.m. Sunday, smoke had begun to fill McAndrews’ apartment. The couple was awoken by his roommate — not smoke detectors — to warn them of the hazardous fumes that were making their way into the home.
“If (my roommate) hadn’t been awake, it’s really scary to think about if we had just died in our sleep,” said McAndrews, a junior studying exercise physiology.
McAndrews is one of seven students displaced by the fire who has moved into the residence halls; he and several other males are currently staying in Bromley Hall on Congress Street, just feet from where his apartment once was.
Executive Director of Residential Housing Pete Trentacoste said the female students have been sprinkled throughout campus.
Trentacoste said he did not know the gender breakdown of the seven displaced students.
“It’s interesting now because from my dorm room now, you can see our entire escape route from the now collapsed apartment, over the fence, over the roofs, down to Jackie O’s,” McAndrews said.
McAndrews, his roommates and Swihart, a junior studying integrated media, first attempted to escape down the stairs of the apartment.
“I noticed the smoke was just 10 times worse at the bottom of the stairs,” Swihart said. “I saw a lick of red out of the corner of my eye, and I immediately assumed that there’s no way we could get out this way.”
The group then sought refuge on the roof of the apartment. They shouted for help but to no immediate avail.
“We really felt kind of helpless up there because there was obviously no firetruck in reach,” Swihart said. “It was so terrifying to be up there.”
McAndrews and his friends attempted to climb over the metal fence between Kismet and the Union Bar & Grill, but one of McAndrews’ roommates couldn’t get over. He had to wait for help.
“All three of us considered that there was a very strong possibility that he would die up there on the roof,” McAndrews said.
The three others eventually navigated to the rooftop above Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery, where they slid down a slanted roof to the back patio and walked out the back alleyway.
After the students were transported to the hospital, they were given oxygen for roughly two to four hours to address carbon monoxide poisoning, McAndrews said.
Students who are staying in the residence halls after being displaced will not be charged for their stay in the dorms before Thanksgiving break, Trentacoste said. OU will only charge the students for the first two weeks of December. It wasn’t immediately clear how much OU would charge the students.
Residential Housing tried to place roommates together in rooms if they wanted to stay together, Trentacoste said, though it is unclear if all the students will choose to stay in the residence halls for Spring Semester.
OU has been tight on space for males this semester, as The Post has previously reported, but does have enough space to accommodate all the students.
As of Oct. 31, there were about 100 beds available throughout OU’s 42 residence halls.
Other displaced students have pursued other housing options.
“According to all the students we’ve talked to, we had 17 permanently displaced from their apartments and we’re working with them,” said Jenny Hall-Jones, dean of students.
The university checked in with students during a meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
There was a representative from the Center for Student Legal Services at Tuesday’s meeting to connect students with the representatives in case there are problems with their landlords and leases in the months to come, Hall-Jones said.
“It was different than Sunday,” Hall-Jones said. “Sunday was still emotional and shell-shocked. There was definitely a good spirit (Tuesday). There was some joking; there were smiles.”
