[Photo illustration by Jaden Moon // AS Review]
By Gwen Frost
Last week four Western students came home to the unthinkable. Their house at 1017 Jersey St. had been consumed by flames.
Resident Cadian Molumby said he received a text saying “Your house is on fire.” Various calls were made to 911, first made by Julia Burns, coordinator for the Campus Community Coalition at WWU. Burns had simply happened to be walking by when she saw the house and called 911, according to resident Ryan Schluter.
When Schluter received the news from his roommate at 10:40 a.m., he said he was on his bike ride home and he “didn’t really believe it.” But once Schluter arrived, he said “it was so surreal that it actually seemed to calm me down.”
Though one might hope some objects would have remained unscathed from the fire, the complete interior of 1017 was damaged. During fires, many objects and valuables end up doused in water in an attempt to choke flames. For this reason, there are generally few surviving materials in fires.
Everything was either burned to a charcoal, or extremely damaged by smoke and water, according to Schluter.
“I lost everything except for what was in my school backpack during the day,” he said.
Despite losing all of his belongings, Schluter lamented most the loss of his art, which was “all lost or really damaged.” The house was also full of musicians, and their instruments were not salvaged.
The next-door house felt damage as well, with one of their tenants of 1019 Jersey St. losing her first-floor room to the fire. Eight tenants from both houses (four from each) were displaced due to the fire, and not one of them had renter’s insurance. Both houses are managed by Lakeway Realty, and owned by Bellingham resident David Hansen.
One might assume the landlords would be all over the mess. However, according to Schluter, Lakeway has offered no communication with the tenants without the tenants first reaching out. As such, not one of the old tenants know what is in store for their old home.
”I anticipate that the house will be plowed down, but knowing Lakeway they probably won’t do that for a long time,” Schluter said.
All tenants have managed to stay together from the 1017 house, and now reside just two houses up the road at 1000 Jersey St. There is currently a GoFundMe up to help contribute to expenses for four the honors students who lived in this house. The residencies of the the four students who lived in 1019 is unknown as of now.
