ATLANTA — SCAD has confirmed a fire inside a dorm room impacted 143 students.
On Tuesday, students were able to return to their rooms to gather any belongings they could salvage.
The fire happened Monday afternoon inside a room on the seventh floor of the high rise student housing unit called Forty.
According to firefighters, the flames started on a mattress. The fire was contained to that room. However, water and smoke was not contained.
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No one was hurt and all students evacuated safely. By 8:45 p.m. Monday, SCAD had reassigned all the impacted students to new dorm rooms.
On Tuesday, students told Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco they were working out any discrepancies in placement.
“They are not counting our absences today which is good, but we still have to kind of figure out what we’re going to do throughout the week,” said Morrice Cartwright.
He lived on the sixth floor of the building. Water from sprinklers ran down the walls and through the ceiling into his room.
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Videos taken inside the building show bubbling paint, cracking drywall and water rings around light fixtures.
“A lot of my stuff was wet. I’m a Type 1 Diabetic. So, a lot of my medication got wet,” said Victoria Darko.
She said she lost some of her medication that must be refrigerated because firefighters had to cut the electricity at some point during the fire.
“There’s been people crying. They lost all their clothes, lost their art pieces, art supplies,” said Darko.
The students said the school did not require them to have renter’s insurance, so it’s unclear if they will get reimbursed for their losses.
“SCAD doesn’t supply art supplies. So, we’re kind of on our own in this,” said Darko.
“Right now, I’m looking at about $2,000 worth of camera equipment and sound equipment that I have to figure out how to pay for,” said Cartwright.
On Wednesday, repairs and inspections will continue. SCAD has not provided a timeframe as to when students will be able to return.
“It is far from over,” said Cartwright.
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