Staring up through the empty hole that used to be his apartment's ceiling, Aaron Brown stood cautiously on piles of insulation, roofing and wood that formed his home less than 24 hours ago.
Brown, a fifth-year student, and his roommate Chris French, a graduate student, climbed the soot-covered stairs to their apartment Thursday afternoon to see if anything could be salvaged after a fire destroyed much of their home Wednesday night.
"It is probably about a 60 percent loss as far as items, goods and stuff," Brown said, but in the background his mother contradicted him. "Everyone else thinks 80 to 90 percent though, so I guess I'm optimistic."
The fire started around 7 p.m. at Walnut Manor Apartments and spread quickly through the eight-unit building, Battalion Chief Terry Moore said Wednesday night. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was unknown as of Wednesday night, and the fire investigator David Miller could not be reached for comment.
Phil Penny, another Ball State student and neighbor of Brown and French, also lost almost everything in the fire. Penny lived in an apartment with his girlfriend and his girlfriend's daughter.
"It was very overwhelming at first," Penny said. "I didn't know what to do. You're just so helpless watching everything you worked for go up in flames."
Brown said damage from the fire, smoke and water was as bad, if not worse, than what he had expected. All the furniture was ruined, he said.
Standing in what used to be his living room, he jokingly offered to sell someone his couch, which sat covered in debris and soaking wet from the firefighters' efforts to drown the fire. To one side of the room was a damaged cat condo. French owned three cats, two of which were found dead. The third was still missing as of Thursday.
Brown said he and French heard that a smoldering cigarette on their balcony might have caused the fire.
He was able to salvage most of his clothes, and said he hoped he could wash out the smell of smoke from the fire. He also gathered a few other miscellaneous items from the wreckage such as dishes, pots, pans and CDs.
"I haven't lost anything really that's not replaceable - mementos and that kind of stuff," Brown said.
The Ball State Office of Student Rights and Community Standards offered assistance to Brown and French. The University Apartments also volunteered to provide the roommates with temporary housing.
David Fried, director of the Office of Student Rights and Community Standards, said the students could apply for emergency financial aid. Students can receive help in the form of a grant or a loan, depending on their circumstances.
"One of them lost his books in the fire, and that's the type of thing that we help students with," Fried said. "Usually that's at the beginning of the semester, but this is a special case."
Brown said he and French e-mailed their professors explaining the situation.
"One was exceptionally understanding, and the other one, I'm not sure that he believed me," he said.
Penny, a pre-med major, is set to graduate from Ball State in a few weeks and plans to go to graduate school. He has been accepted at Northwestern University and is waiting to hear from Columbia University.
But he, his girlfriend and her daughter will have to start over.
"We woke up and went and tried to salvage whatever we could," he said.
Other than his clothes, Penny said he recovered only a few books that firefighters saved for him Wednesday night.
The damage was 100 times worse than anything he imagined, he said,
"The whole entire roof caved in so there was dry wall and installation a few inches thick on the floor," Penny said. "And everything was so wet."
Penny said he was on his way home from work Wednesday night and could see the smoke from the fire rising above his apartment complex.
A firefighter managed to save the couple's cat that had been stuck in the burning building.
"The cat was in there for most of the fire, and at the end the fireman brought her out," Penny said.
Penny and his girlfriend met with Red Cross workers for about an hour Wednesday night, he said, and they gave him money vouchers to buy necessities at Wal-Mart. Then, the three stayed at his girlfriend's parents' house in Hartford City.
"We're going to try to get back on our feet and save some money," Penny said.
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