By: Lauren Male ’27

The 2024 Spring semester at Pace had just begun; school was back in session, friends were reunited, and 15 Beekman was bustling with excitement. There were warm smiles on the faces of Pace students everywhere I looked—that is, until what seemed to be the start of a “fire” semester actually caught on fire. 

 At about 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, January 27, the first of three fire trucks arrived on the scene at Pace’s brand-new dorm building at 15 Beekman St. A student had pulled the fire alarm mere minutes after entering the building’s twelfth-floor laundry room to retrieve her clothes and, instead, found a room filled with smoke. Its source? A single dryer unit that had caught fire. I was lucky enough to have been across the street with a friend at the Variety coffee shop, but it wasn’t long before the entire building was evacuated and students and staff began making their way to stand in front of the cafe. 

We all watched as firefighters entered the building with their hoses trailing behind them, wondering when—or if—we would be allowed inside to ensure the safety of our most valuable possessions. In preparing for future situations that may put our laptops, textbooks, and stuffed animals in jeopardy, resident Bianca Mazur (‘27) advises, “Get renter’s insurance because it’s not very expensive and it can help you protect your valuables if a disaster like this ever occurs again.” Many students were escorted to the Student Activities Center in 1 Pace Plaza for a warm—but not too warm—place to rest and rehydrate. Those who stayed behind were captivated by the sight: students and other onlookers who stopped to watch gasped as the twelfth-floor windows were opened and smoke could be seen escaping through them. It took the FDNY a tense twenty minutes to fully extinguish the fire, but it wasn’t until nearly 8:00 p.m. that the building was cleared for safety and students were allowed to reenter the building, wherein the smoke left a haze and a potent smell in the air.  

 Several students witnessed the dryer unit bursting into flames firsthand. On seeing the smoke-filled room, Liliana Benhammou (‘27) recounts, “My first instinct was to call the RA on duty, and we left pretty quickly after that,” and Danica Godshall (‘27) says, “I went into fight or flight, and I chose flight.” Gracie Greenberg (‘27), who triggered the fire alarm, remembers encountering the fire and looking for a fire extinguisher, but finding none. As she made her escape, she found the stairwell blocked by clouds of smoke, and was stuck on the twelfth floor for about seven minutes until the fire alarm finally went off and the RA on duty arrived on the scene. Greenberg is still suffering the effects of the time she spent inhaling the carbon monoxide, with symptoms of dizziness, nausea, and panic attacks even several days after the event.  

Unfortunately, the fire and its destruction was not isolated to the one dryer unit that caught fire; the surrounding washers and dryers in a five foot radius of the unit were also affected. “My clothes in the washer across from the unit were charred, but the clothes in the unit next to the dryer that caught fire were completely unsalvageable,” says resident Ella Godbout (‘27). Three Pace students in the vicinity of the laundry room were injured, but all were checked and cleared by the EMTs on the scene. Those like Greenberg and Godbout who lost their belongings to the fire are advised to make an itemized list of the items that were lost in hopes that, though liability has not yet been determined, they will be reimbursed.  

 For the next three weeks to a month, it is unlikely that the laundry room will be available to students for use. This will allow authorities time to test the machine and find the cause of the fire, as well as to replace and repair the affected washer and dryer units. In the meantime, Pace has provided 15 Beekman residents access to the laundry rooms in two other dorms, 33 Beekman and 182 Broadway. Further, Pace is assisting students with paying for dry-cleaning at Alba Dry Cleaners, which is located at 140 Nassau St. 

 This event brings up an important question: how can we expect and prepare for the unexpected moving forward? Greenberg hopes to move forward by placing a greater emphasis on fire safety training. She also hopes Pace administration will consider installing fire extinguishers in especially fire-prone areas like the laundry room. Greenberg states, “Safety is the most important thing, but we also need to remember to take care of each other.” Other students were disappointed in the lack of organization among 15 Beekman staff and residents, and noted that various unannounced test alarms that had occurred in the previous semester gave residents the impression that the most recent alarm was of a similar nature. This led to a sense of uncertainty and panic within the student body, resulting in a confused footpath, pushing, and emotional distress that neither the residents nor the staff seemed prepared for. In the wake of the fire, however, Pace administration has begun executing fire drills in the other buildings to ensure preparedness and protocol in the case of another such event. Hopefully we can end the streak of disasters and visits from the fire department in 2025.  

Editorial Update: Just five days after the first fire in 15 Beekman, another laundry room fire occurred at a second Pace dorm building, located at 33 Beekman St. Fortunately, no one was injured in the second fire and it was extinguished quickly and easily. The laundry room in 33 Beekman St. will be out of commission for the foreseeable future, with alternative laundry options being provided to residents by Pace. This incident further highlights the dire need of better organization and preparedness in the face of such disasters, as well as the importance of Pace students supporting each other during such events.