By Kate Horan and Caitlin Cunnane
“On January 29th, 2025, at approximately 2155 hours, Officer Falnes #18 responded to a building fire at the [Elliott] House on Ursinus campus. As police pulled up, so did Collegeville Fire Co. and Lower Providence Fire Department. Everyone was already evacuated from the building and there was visible smoke coming from the roof of the Elliott house,” stated Officer John T. Falnes in his main narrative for the Collegeville Police Department’s incident report.
According to Collegeville Borough PD’s incident report, which was received by Ursinus College on Friday, Feb. 6, 2025, the fire marshal believes that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction.
On the night of the fire, Nicolette Machado ’26 was in her room, Elliott 101, with her roommate Kate Adams ‘26 and Adams’ boyfriend. Elliott 101 consisted of four total rooms, and on January 29th, 2025, Machado stayed in the bedroom so that Adams and her boyfriend could watch a show. Machado said, “I was in my bed when the lights started flickering and then there was a small spark coming from the pipe above my bed, so I got out of bed and ran to our common room where Kate was and asked if she saw the lights flicker. Once I finished speaking all the lights went out and sparks came from the ceiling. We all went and looked up through a small hole in the ceiling and saw flames right above our TV. We open the door from our room into the rest of the house and smoke was cover- ing the main common room.” Machado said that, after this, Adams woke up everyone upstairs while Machado called Campus Safety, and then Adams proceeded to call 911.
The Collegeville Police Department’s incident report reflects the details of Machado’s statements. In his supplemental narrative for the incident report, Officer Timothy P. Kennedy stated, “Upon my arrival I was directed inside the building where firefighters were actively engaged in the overhaul process fire extinguishment. One of those firefighters was Perkiomen Township Fire Marshal John Moran Jr. According to Moran firefighters arrived to find the fire alarm sounding, light smoke in the first floor of the building and heavier smoke on the second floor. They were directed to a hallway area in the rear portion of the building where fire could be seen coming from an opening in the ceiling around a sprinkler riser pipe between the first and second floors.”
Everyone evacuated from Elliott House and no parties were injured, but according to Machado the residents still “had a really hard time with this.” Machado said that when the residents of Elliott House were allowed to move out their belongings, “we only were given two hours that day to grab stuff. A lot of us got major headaches and a cough after moving our things out because of the smell from the fire. … Luckily some of the girls living there were on the gymnastics team and they helped everyone in the house to get their stuff out quickly and even carried it to our new places of living.”
In terms of communication about the fire and emergency personnel on campus, the student body received two emails. The first email, signed by Director of Campus Safety Joe Nemic, was sent out at 11:16 pm on the night of the fire, January 29th. The second email, signed by Associate Vice President for Student Affairs & Dean of Students Ellie Ash-Balá, was sent out at 5:11 pm the day after the fire, January 30th. These two emails to the student body contained limited details and information about the Elliott House building fire.
At 1:29 pm on February 5, 2025, Ursinus sent out an email to Ursinus families with the subject line “Addressing concerns about safety in campus residences.” This email contained more details and information about the Elliott House building fire, including headings such as “What happened?”; “What about the other Main Street houses? Are they safe?”; “How are the students who were impacted being supported?”; and “What are the next steps?” This email was not sent out to the student body directly. Jennifer Post-Whisted, Manager of Executive Communications at Ursinus College, said, “Many calls were being received from parents and guardians who had heard about the fire and there were inaccuracies being spread. Because families are not on campus, the email was sent to them to address these questions and concerns. All Resident Advisors and Student Affairs staff were given the same information so that questions and concerns from students could be addressed in-person.”
The email to Ursinus families stated that “All residential buildings have a facilities preventative maintenance checklist that is performed over the summer” and “All systems are up to date on required state inspections.” The Grizzly posed questions to both Director of Campus Safety Joe Nemic and Director of Facilities Steve Halasa about these safety systems, such as “If this
is true of all residence halls and houses (including Elliott House), what was different about Elliott House that this fire occurred?” and “If all Main Street houses have the same safety systems, what makes the other houses any safer than Elliott House?” Post-Whisted provided a response to these questions, stating, “The college takes the safety of its campus community seriously and strictly follows all safety protocols and inspections. All residence halls and houses are equipped with smoke detectors, sprinklers, and extinguishers in case of an emergency, and in Main Street houses that have only one staircase, portable safety ladders are provided in second floor rooms to ensure a second means of egress. All systems in all buildings are up to date on required state inspections and fire drills are performed on all buildings early in each semester.”
“I think they [Ursinus College officials] understand what the fire caused us [residents of Elliott House] but not the worry it caused other students about their housing,” stated Machado.
The other concern that surfaced for students in the wake of the fire was accommodations for students displaced by the incident. The lack of time left to gather things meant that those displaced would be sleeping on bare mattresses, which left many to resort to couch surfing for a day or two. Additionally, many had to go in their same clothes from the fire to class because of a wait to get back into the house and confusion about when they could do so. On the upside, residents of Elliott House were eventually assigned new rooms and given a $500 gift card for their trouble. It was a lot of trouble.
