Waking up to the words, "FIRE!" "HELP!" is no one's idea of a good day.

The top level of this home had experienced a heating problem, and our landlord brought in a crew to work on the solution. However, ICE showed up and rounded up some in the crew, which delayed the work. Because it had been so bitterly cold, the roommates had been issued space heaters to maintain warmth in the upper level. Had ICE not removed the crew, there would have been no need for space heaters.

Christopher (CJ) Bostwick, Zeke Chapin, and Diego Symouksavanh were fast asleep on Thursday morning in early February, 2026. CJ is a student at UMN's College of Design, Zeke is a newly graduate EMT and Diego is an actor, and they are all a very integrated part of their community in the Philips neighborhood.

CJ ran into the bedroom where the fire was raging and threw a wool blanket on the liquefied foam mattress; causing both a flare of fire aimed at his face and a splashing of molten plastic - which landed on his forearm and hand. CJ's long hair was completely singed as he turned to avoid a face-full of fire, but his hand was not as lucky. The thrown wool blanket effort was a bid to buy some time to go get a fire extinguisher.

Once the fire was noticeably out of any form of control, the housemates ran around barefoot, gathering what essentials they could, and holding their breath so as not to breathe in the thick black smoke. "The experience was instantly disorienting as the house became pitch black from the toxic soot/smoke and the screams of panic. Snow is painful when you don't have shoes, the jagged icy texture cuts into your feet" - this was their next immediate reality as they exited the house hastily.

Diego's room is a complete loss, as is CJ's room. Zeke's belongings on the main floor were fully soaked in the effort to put out the fire. All their belongings were damaged by the ceiling caving in from the water pressure/damage. The toxic smoke smell from the plastics burning in the fire now permeate everything.

"In the course of 2 to 3 hours, we went from peacefully sleeping to having an uninhabitable boarded up house to which we could not return. This was the most rude awakening to the reality of how fast a fire can up-end our lives and the very real possibility that we might not have made it out alive."

CJ was taken to HCMC and treated with high levels of oxygen for his burns and for carbon monoxide inhalation/X-rays/EKG. The doctors discussed placing CJ in a hyperbaric chamber, however he was responding well enough to treatment.

The fire department allowed the members of the household to re-enter the house to retrieve what essentials they could find undamaged.

"Now we have the huge task of finding a new home to live in, replace our bedroom furniture, clothing, shoes, winter gear, school materials, kitchen basics and store the less damaged items we managed to retrieve."

"The fire was a most violent way to find ourselves suddenly homeless, and wholly unbalanced to carry on with our regular lives. We have not been able to go back to school or work due to the immediacy of the situation and CJ's injury has already racked up medical expenses."

The roommates are couch surfing at the moment and are looking forward to gathering up enough resources in order to find a new place they can call home again.