On the evening of April 2, a fire occurred at 301 Residence Hall, The New School’s newest and most expensive dorm. The New School PR team issued a statement confirming that “no one was injured.” The statement said the fire started in the unit’s kitchen and “was contained to that suite.” However, water damage did occur due to the sprinkler systems and impacted “nearby electrical panels and several suites.” The water damage caused students who were “affected [to be] relocated to other residence halls.”

A Tik Tok video made by user @lilakf, captured the aftermath. In the video, murky water is seen flooding staircases and common areas. “It was like a bunch of disgusting brown water and it was so gross,” said Kennedy Wilson, a first-year student at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and 301 resident. The video also shows firemen and maintenance staff navigating the building, including the room where the fire occurred. A kitchen covered in soot and a pan still in place on the stove are also shown in the video. 

Emails sent by the 301 Residence Hall RA’s at 8:09 p.m. initially stated that the fire was a false alarm. Shortly after receiving new information, another email was sent advising 301 residents to stay in their dorms unless evacuation was needed.

“Nobody was moving and then we were like, is there a fire?” said Gianna Shayne, a 301 resident and first-year Lang student. “[The alarms] go off often, so we just thought they were just going off again,” Wilson added. 

Brenda X. Cruz, the Director of Housing and Residential Education, sent an email the following morning, stating that only one elevator is functioning. The email advised all students to use the stairs as much as possible, due to an anticipated significant wait time for elevator use.

This is a developing story. The New School Free Press will give updates as soon as more information is available.