2 Die in BU Fire, Candles Blamed

Two Boston University (BU) undergraduates died when a fire, ignited by a candle, swept through an off-campus apartment building early Saturday morning. A third student remains in critical condition.

After battling the blaze, firefighters found two people in apartment 621, later identified to be BU undergraduates Rhiannon L. McCuish of Mashpee, Mass., and Stephen Adelipour of Great Neck, N.Y., dead at the scene. Both were 21.

Adelipour resided in the apartment, and McCuish was visiting. Steven B. Boursiquot, 22, of Dix Hills, N.Y., was found in the apartment alive and transported to Mass. General Hospital, where he remains in critical condition, according to Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department (BFD).

The cause of the fire was determined to be a candle burning in a bedroom that came in contact with combustible material, MacDonald said. The fire built up such force that it burned through the roof, causing an estimated $1 million in damage.

“It’s a terribly tragic thing for the university community and for the family and friends of the individuals,” said Colin Riley, a spokesman for BU.

So far this academic year, four students, including McCuish and Adelipour, have died at BU, a statistic which Riley calls “very unusual and very sad and tragic.”

At BU, a university with more than 31,000 students, the news blazed across campus.

“You can definitely tell that people have been affected by this,” said Matt J. Negrin, the editor-in-chief of BU’s newspaper, The Daily Free Press. “The reaction has been very big from particularly Boston University itself, but I think it’s reasonable to say that almost every student knows about it.”

At Harvard, Dean of Freshmen Thomas R. Dingman ’67 sent an e-mail to first-year students about the events yesterday.

“Given the recent tragedy in which two BU students were killed in a fire ignited by a candle, I write to urge you to pay the closest attention to our fire safety rules,” he wrote. “In particular, the use of candles and other sources of open flame are not allowed; and smoking is prohibited in all dormitory areas.”

AT THE SCENE

At 5:14 a.m. the Boston Fire Department (BFD) received a 911 call reporting a fire at 21 Aberdeen Street, a three-story brick building located in the Audubon Circle neighborhood in Boston, said MacDonald, a spokesman for the BFD. Firefighters were sent out at 5:16 a.m. and arrived at the scene two minutes later, according to Firefighter Scott M. Salman. The apartment complex is actually made up of two adjoining edifices, with building 19 on one side and building 21 on the other.

“The damage to the building on the 21 side was extensive. It will be several months before its residents can return,” MacDonald said. He added that both buildings sustained considerable water damage, especially building 21, because the roof was blown off.

Before the fire, the street had been without power since 9 p.m. the previous night. Workers from NSTAR, the electrical utility company, were working in the back alley of the building to restore power when the fire broke out. The workers discovered the fire, called the BFD and then entered the building, banging on doors to warn people to leave.

When the firefighters arrived, the occupants of the building were leaving. MacDonald said that many of them came out without shoes or in their pajamas, “fleeing into the bitter cold.” BU opened its Sargent Activities Office to shelter the displaced residents—including non-BU affiliates—in a gymnasium.

An MBTA bus reported to the scene of the fire to transport people to Sargent, where workers from the American Red Cross were waiting to assist people, MacDonald said. BU later identified its affiliates and put them up in hotels, according to Riley, the BU spokesman.

The university is currently in the process of following up with each of the students. BU guarantees housing for all four years for its undergraduates, though about 20 percent of undergraduates choose to live in off-campus housing, according to Riley.

In response to the tragedy, a moment of silence was observed during the men’s hockey game at BU’s Agganis Arena on Saturday.

—Staff writer Jamison A. Hill can be reached at jahill@fas.harvard.edu