The cause of Amherst fire still unknown.
AMHERST — The cause of the Amherst fire that killed 21-year-old James “Jake” Hoffman early Monday morning remains under investigation, according to a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services.
Jennifer Mieth said fire officials do not yet have a cause of the fire that killed Hoffman, of Stoughton, and displaced more than 30 others at the Rolling Green apartments. Twenty-two of those people are University of Massachusetts students.
Hoffman was believed to have been in the apartment where the fire originated. He was in his last year at the University of Massachusetts studying Hospitality and Tourism Management in the Isenberg School of Management, according to a letter emailed to the campus community Wednesday from Associate Vice Chancellor & Dean of Students Enku Gelaye. Hoffman graduated from Stoughton High School in 2009.
“This is a tragedy with wide-reaching consequences for our community, and we are working with departments across campus to provide direct support and resources to other UMass Amherst students who were displaced by the fire,” she wrote.
“Those resources include on campus housing, spiritual support services, emergency loans, meal plan options, parking permits and partnerships with faculty and academic departments to assess and mitigate start of semester challenges.”
A spokesman for Equity Residential, which owns and manages the Rolling Green complex, said Equity was working with tenants to move them into available units in the 204-unit complex.
Five of the 10 apartments in the 10-unit complex were gutted, the others received fire and water damage. A chain-link fence was erected around the buildings Monday Tuesday afternoon.