Fire erupts in Purdue apartments

WEST LAFAYETTE -- Purdue University students ran from their apartments as fire spread through an old commercial building near campus and burned through the roof.\nNo injuries were reported from the fire that heavily damaged the top floor of the three-story Von's Book Shop building, but it left about a dozen students temporarily homeless.\nThe fire was reported at about 10:15 p.m. Tuesday and firefighters needed more than two hours to extinguish the flames as heavy smoke blanketed the Chauncey Village area and police officers closed several nearby streets.\nWest Lafayette Fire Chief Philip Drew said the fire appeared to have started in the building's attic, but the cause was not immediately known. While the fire was contained to the third floor and the roof, Drew said the basement was flooded and the four apartments and Von's shops on the ground floor sustained water damage.\nMary Remien, a Purdue student whose apartment was on the building's third floor, said she and her roommate saw the flames through their skylight.\n"We didn't hear a fire alarm or anything," she said. "Nothing went off. We saw fire, and it was about to come through the skylight."\nRemien said that as she and her roommate entered the hallway they saw "rolling flames."\n"The walls in the hallway were orange," she said. "So we ran downstairs and got out neighbors."\nVon's general manager Kurk Bright said the store's inventory of books, greeting cards, compact discs and jewelry was likely destroyed.\n"With all of that water and smoke damage, I doubt there's any merchandise that's salvageable," he said.