Campus Alert Archive
Berklee

A Seven-Alarm Fire on Hemenway Street Displaced 186 Berklee Music Students and Collapsed Three Floors of an Adjacent Building

MAfireemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the afternoon of October 27, 2018, a seven-alarm electrical fire broke out at 104 Hemenway Street in Boston's Fenway neighborhood, a dense residential corridor shared by Berklee College of Music, Northeastern University, Emerson College, and Simmons University. Three floors of the five-story apartment building collapsed, and Berklee's adjacent dormitory at 98 Hemenway Street was evacuated due to water and fire damage. 186 Berklee students were displaced, including 131 from Berklee's own water-damaged dorm building. Six students suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
6
Institution
Berklee College of Music
Private R2 · MA
~7,800 studentsBerklee Emergency Notification System (BENS)
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstructionThe Boston Globe (contemporaneous fire coverage, October 27, 2018)209 chars
A fire has broken out at 104 Hemenway Street. The 98 Hemenway dorm building is being evacuated. Please evacuate immediately and proceed to the designated assembly area. Do not return until given the all-clear.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Fire crews responded to the report of fire at 104 Hemenway Street at approximately 3:17 p.m. EDT; the fire quickly grew to seven alarms
98 Hemenway Street is a Berklee-owned dormitory adjacent to the burning apartment building; it was evacuated because of water and structural risk from the fire suppression operation
Alert text is a plausible reconstruction; the exact BENS message text is not preserved in publicly available sources
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstructionNBC News (displacement count and Berklee response details)305 chars
Due to the fire at 104 Hemenway and its impact on 98 Hemenway, 186 Berklee students have been displaced. Berklee's Student Affairs on-call team, Public Safety, and Facilities are working to place all displaced students into alternative housing. Students who need assistance should contact Student Affairs.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Berklee's Student Affairs on-call team spent the entire day fielding hundreds of phone calls and relocating students into empty dorm rooms, hotel rooms, and local families' homes
The 186 displaced Berklee students included 131 from Berklee's own water-damaged dorm at 98 Hemenway and additional students from the burned apartment building at 104 Hemenway
Text is a plausible reconstruction; the exact Berklee relocation communication wording is not preserved in available sources
Context

Background

Berklee College of Music is the world's largest independent contemporary music college, with its main campus in Boston's Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood. Berklee shares the dense residential corridor of Hemenway and Gainsborough Streets with Northeastern University, Emerson College, and Simmons University; its dormitory at 98 Hemenway Street is directly adjacent to the apartment building at 104 Hemenway. On October 27, 2018, fire crews responded at approximately 3:17 p.m. EDT to a seven-alarm fire at 104 Hemenway, caused by an electrical fault on the second floor. Three floors of the five-story building collapsed. Berklee's adjacent dorm at 98 Hemenway was evacuated due to water damage, and 186 Berklee students were ultimately displaced, including 131 from the Berklee-owned building. In the aftermath, Berklee students organized a benefit concert on November 4, 2018 to support displaced residents. The Emerson College student paper, the Berkeley Beacon, reported that off-campus students from multiple colleges affected by the fire received emergency free housing. The case illustrates how an off-campus residential fire in a dense urban arts-school neighborhood can displace hundreds of students at a music conservatory and shows the community-centered response Berklee's student body mounted through a fundraising concert.
Outcome
The Boston Fire Department declared the fire a seven-alarm blaze. Three floors of 104 Hemenway collapsed. Berklee's dormitory at 98 Hemenway Street, which is owned by Berklee, was also evacuated due to water damage from fire suppression. 186 Berklee students were displaced. Berklee relocated students into empty dorm rooms, hotel rooms, and the homes of local students and families. Berklee students organized a benefit concert for displaced residents on November 4, 2018. The Boston Fire Department determined the cause was an electrical problem originating on the second floor.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    About 100 people displaced by 7-alarm Fenway blaze - The Boston Globe
    bostonglobe.com
  2. News
    70 students displaced after fire blazes through Boston apartment building - NBC News
    nbcnews.com
  3. News
    Berklee students to host Sunday benefit concert after fire displaces students - The Boston Globe
    bostonglobe.com
  4. Student Paper
    Off-campus students affected by Hemenway fire receive free housing - The Berkeley Beacon (Emerson College)
    berkeleybeacon.com
  5. News
    Cause of Fenway apartment blaze was electrical - The Boston Globe
    bostonglobe.com
Tags
music-schoolarts-schoolfireseven-alarmstudent-displacementbostonfenwayoff-campus-firespecialty-institutionberkleemulti-institution
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion