Student dies in tragic blaze

Wendy Carman, a 20-year old Tufts junior from Tacoma, WA, died early Saturday morning when the loft where she was sleeping caught fire.

According to Medford Building Inspector Paul Mochi, the loft, which was above a garage at 20 Harris Rd. in Medford, may have been illegal because it did not meet fire safety regulations.

"There shouldn't have been anyone occupying that space," Mochi told The Boston Globe. He said there was no record of a permit for the structure, which would need fireproofing gypsum board on the walls and ceiling and at least two egresses to be habitable.

"There wasn't even a doorway, there was just a ladder," Mochi told the Globe.

The house is owned by Frederick Shaffer of Reading. The penalty for a building code violation is $1,000 and up to one year in jail.

The fire began at 4:24 a.m., according to Deputy Chief Steve Howe of the city's Fire Department. Firefighters who arrived on the scene called for backup at 4:33 a.m. because of the garage's proximity to other buildings and sub-freezing temperatures.

Linda Autio, who lives in one of the houses next to the scene of the fire, was awakened by the sound of breaking glass. "The fire had obviously been burning for some time," she said. "I ran to the phone and contacted 911 _ the fire department was here very quickly."

Jason Nickerson, another neighbor, said that when he woke up, "the entire top floor of the garage was completely engulfed in flames." By the time the fire department arrived, Nickerson had already broken down the front door of the main house. He said that the residents were unaware of what was going on.

"They were pretty confused," he said. "Their apartment was pitch black." At the time, Nickerson did not know that there was a person in the loft over the garage, although he said one of the residents kept saying, "Wendy is back there."

Medford Fire Department Deputy Chief Edward O'Brien said that when the firefighters reached the scene "the fire had already consumed the entire loft of the garage."

Firefighters mounted the roof of an adjacent garage to extinguish the fire. They also sprayed surrounding houses to protect them from the flames, although the heat caused windows to crack and vinyl siding to melt on some houses.

"The flames were going over our house across to Pinkham," said Charles McCarthy, who lives in the house directly behind the garage and was forced to evacuate. He said he would have to wait until the ice thawed to see if his roof was damaged.

The fire caused the floor and the ceiling of the loft to collapse before it was extinguished at 6:30 a.m. Firefighters and fire trucks remained on the scene until mid-morning, blocking off the street for about five hours, according to one neighbor. Nearby Boston Ave. also had to be closed off because one of the fire hydrants burst, spewing water across the street and creating an ice patch.

Investigators did not formally release Carman's identity until yesterday morning after conducting a medical examination.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Carman was known to smoke and O'Brien said that the fire's source "could very well have been cigarettes, but this time of year it could also have been a space heater of some sort or an electrical fire." Fires are also more likely to start in cold, dry weather, O'Brien said.

Carman and three of her friends, all Tufts students, leased the first floor apartment of the house, and another group of Tufts students lived in the upstairs apartment. The loft where Carman lived and the garage below were connected to the main house by a breezeway. The rest of the house suffered only smoke damage in the blaze, O'Brien said.

Neighbors were surprised to learn that the loft, which resembled a finished attic on the interior, was actually used as a bedroom. "I thought it was a room where they hung out maybe," Nickerson said.

Dan Bullenkamp, a neighbor who occasionally smoked with Carman outside, did not know she lived in the loft. "I couldn't imagine someone living above the garage," he said. "The house was huge. I wouldn't have done it."

The fire was not the only one that affected Tufts students this weekend. At 10:24 a.m. on Saturday morning, a house on Chester Ave. in Medford caught fire and sustained damage inside its walls. No one was injured, although at least six students were forced to move out. The Medford Fire Department is still investigating.

The fires have raised questions about the safety of off-campus living. But the University does not intend to change how it deals with off-campus housing.

"We can promote safety certainly, living in off campus apartments and being smart about what type of facilities one rents," Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said.

The University provides information on off-campus housing safety through the Residential Life website, including a checklist for students looking for apartments.

"We offer all the information we can," Reitman said. He acknowledged, however, that even when all safety precautions are adhered to, accidents can still happen.

Carman, a Spanish major who planned to minor in art history, attended Annie Wright School and Henry Foss High School in Tacoma, WA. One of two siblings, Carman was very close to her family. "She would always be on the phone with her mom and would always hold the phone up so we could shout 'hi' into it," a friend said.

Branden Yee, one of Carman's close friends, recalled her love of dogs and her caring personality. "She was very affectionate and outgoing," he said.

Carman's family issued a brief statement yesterday about her death.

"The world is a different place without Wendy," the family said. "She was a wonderful daughter and will be terribly missed by her family."

An informal support gathering was held yesterday afternoon in Goddard Chapel and the University will hold a memorial service for Carman in Goddard on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

In a mass e-mail sent on Saturday, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Susan Ernst said that Tufts was providing room and board to students displaced by the weekend's fires, including Carman's housemates.

"Those guys are moving out, but I have to look out my window every day at her room," Bullenkamp said. "She didn't deserve that."

Adam Cooper contributed to this article.