TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Florida State University students are rallying around their own after a fire displaced over 70 residents at an off-campus apartment complex.
The blaze injured eight people, including two students who were taken to Gainesville for advanced care.
GoFundMe has verified at least a half dozen fundraisers for folks who had to run or jump for their lives from The Social Seminole apartment building after it was consumed by flames Wednesday night.
List of GoFundMe links for those impacted by fire
The scene of the fire was calm on Friday, with a security fence going up to keep the site safe. When Charlie McCloy heard about the fire, he realized several of his classmates from his chemistry cohort were among the victims.
He said two of his classmates had only been in Tallahassee for four months, so they barely have anything left.
The chemistry department has banded together, though, raising $9,000 online and stuffing a donation box at the school to the brim.
”So the two people I know they just moved here from India. So they lost all of their documentation, passports, visas, everything,“ he said. ”So they’ve been having to go to the state department and figure everything out how to be legal here.”
As for the two victims who were taken to Gainesville, a friend and classmate of theirs said they have some extended family staying with them now, but they’re desperately trying to secure a visa for their parents to come and visit from India.
So far, the fundraiser organized by the chemistry cohort has raised over $9,000, plus a drop box that was filled to the brim.
”And then within an hour of me starting the GoFundMe was already at $2,000,” McCloy said. “And then overnight, I think it’s at $9,100 or so. Yeah, our department has been very generous.”
And, McCloy’s friends had a harrowing escape. Two of them climbed down the gutter system, ending with a nail in the foot and scrapes on the arms. But, they escaped the blaze.
“So I think they rode the gutter down to the second floor and then jumped from there onto the ground. But one of their roommates, I think two of their roommates, had shoulder injuries, so they didn’t have that luxury of going down the (gutter),” McCloy said. “And then they showed me a video of it as well, and it was not good.”
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