A kitchen fire broke out early Tuesday morning in a Mirrielees apartment, and while no one was injured, there was substantial water damage to several dorm rooms. Fourteen students have been displaced as a result of the damage.

The fire started after a frying pan containing oil was left unattended while cooking on a hot stove in a third-floor apartment, said Associate Director of Student Housing Imogen Hinds.

Although the fire was quickly contained in the apartment’s kitchen, it eventually set off the room’s emergency sprinkler system, which several residents said continued to run for at least an hour before it was finally shut down. After soaking into the third-floor room’s carpet, water seeped into the apartments below on the second and first floors, damaging personal possessions and electronics and rendering five Mirrielees rooms uninhabitable by their current occupants.

“Our room got flooded,” said Pra Chandrasoma ‘09, who lives in room 336 where the fire started. “The entire floor was covered with water.”

The 14 residents displaced by water damage have been offered emergency housing arrangements until the Mirrielees rooms can be repaired, said Executive Director of Student Housing Rodger Whitney in an email to The Daily. Several students are currently living in the Stanford Guest House near the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and will be offered both short-term and long-term housing options in apartments and guest rooms until they can move back into Mirrielees.

“We are working closely with the residents to determine which housing options best meet their needs and is the least disruptive to them,” Whitney said.

The fire began at 3:19 a.m. after T.J. Harris ‘09 left oil in a frying pan to simmer on the stove in his apartment’s kitchen while cooking spring rolls. When he heard a sizzling sound, Harris said he returned to the stove and found flames coming from the pan.

“I shouldn’t have left it unattended,” Harris said. “I guess I see that now.”

Since the closest fire extinguisher was down the hallway, Harris said he threw the pan into the sink to put the fire out. Enough smoke had accumulated in the kitchen area to set off the fire alarm and emergency sprinklers in the room.

“I just feel bad about the whole thing,” Harris said. “It was a complete accident.”

Armando Solis ‘09, who lived in the room directly below the fire, said he and his roommate were sleeping when the fire alarm woke them up. He said it was not until he had evacuated the building with the rest of the Mirrielees residents that he realized it wasn’t a drill.

Solis said firefighters responding to the scene took him and his roommates back to his apartment, where they found water leaking down from the room above.

“The ceiling was just pouring water,” said Paul Lockhart-Korris ‘09, one of Solis’ roommates. “It was dripping this nasty yellow water everywhere.”

Solis said he and his roommates began pulling as many of their personal items out of the room as possible as water continued to seep down. In addition to some books and clothes, Solis said he lost his television, stereo speakers and entertainment system to water damage.

“We pulled out as much as we could,” Solis said, “but we lost quite a bit.”

Solis said he and several other residents were relocated to the Guest House until other housing arrangements could be made.

“It’s a huge hassle,” Solis said, “but I am appreciative of what the University is doing to help us out.”

The time frame for re-occupancy will vary depending on the extent of the damage, Hinds said. Several displaced residents said housing officials told them it could take anywhere from one to four weeks before they are able to return to their rooms.

Damages to the building and property will be evaluated by the University Risk Management Department to determine how students will be compensated for their losses, Hinds said.

Moving around takes a lot of time and may make things more difficult as midterms approach, Solis said. But he and his roommate said they are grateful for the accommodations Housing is willing to provide in working with their professors to manage their academic load and providing meal points for dining.

“I’m pretty impressed with how quickly the administration mobilized,” Lockhart-Korris said. “I hope things go smoothly from here.”

Some students will likely be upset about the fire, Chandrasoma said. But he hopes other students will look at the situation objectively.

“It was an honest mistake,” he said. “It could have happened to anybody. Mistakes happen. We’re all human.”

Although many of his own possessions were damaged by the sprinkler system in his apartment, Chandrasoma said the outcome could have been worse.

“It’s an inconvenience,” he said, “but the most important thing is nobody got hurt."