A fire Tuesday night engulfed the Townehouse apartment rented out by two University of Massachusetts students, destroying all of their possessions.

Both John Rugo a junior English major and David Bernstein a senior Resource Economics major were residents at 50 Townehouse Apartments. The students lost all of their belongings in the fire that struck Tuesday night.

The tenants returned to their home from sledding and opened their front door to find a fire smoldering in the living room. They called 911 on a cellular phone that went directly to the Northampton State Police barracks.

The Amherst Fire Department arrived at 6:33 p.m. and was on scene until 11:41 p.m. cleaning up the fire. A ladder truck, four engines and a total of 44 individuals were sent to fight, while firefighters from Northampton and Belchertown were called to staff the stations in case of other emergencies.

The apartment was located in the middle of a four apartment building, receiving the brunt of the damage. Firefighters were able to stop the blaze before it significantly damaged either side apartments.

The adjacent apartments did not suffer any structural damage, but did, however, endure slight smoke damage, said Acting Assistant Fire Chief Timothy Atteridge.

Fire Captain Timothy Masloski said that when his crew arrived the fire had spread from the ceiling halfway down to the first floor.

The sliding glass door was blown out due to immense heat causing the lintel to fall out and the wall to partially collapse, added Fire Chief Keith Hoyle.

As the firefighters crawled through the first floor putting out the fire with their hoses the blaze traveled up the stairs of the apartment engulfing the upper level in flames.

“We’re thankful no one was hurt,” said Townehouse Apartments Manager Judy Johnson.

Townehouse Apartments management has relocated Rugo and Bernstein to temporary housing in another unit.

Damage to the apartment is estimated at $90,000, and the residents said they did not have renter’s insurance for their possessions.

The fire is currently under investigation by Amherst Police and Fire Departments as well as the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

The cause of the blaze has yet to be determined and no further information about the incident was available at press time.
Information for this article was taken from the Hampshire Gazette and Melissa Hammel contributed to this article.