Following a fire on the third floor of building nine of The Village at Chandler Crossings apartments in East Lansing, MI., balconies exhibit fire damage and loss of items in on May 11, 2026.
A sudden apartment fire at The Village at Chandler Crossings Saturday night has left its residents without a home and the majority of their belongings, displacing a total of 46 residents across 12 apartment units in the building, many of them students at Michigan State University.
The fire originated from the "careless discarding of smoking materials which traveled through the attic area," according to authorities.
Felipe Pena, a rising political theory sophomore at Michigan State University, and his roommate were among the first to arrive at the scene alongside fire crews and authorities. As the fire burned through the roof near their rooms on the third floor, the two came to a harrowing realization: all of their important documents, sentimental photos, medications and clothes were vanishing right in front of them.
“All of my adult life was there. And my adult life had just started,” Pena said. “You know, I thought I'd prepared for it well. I thought I was in a decent spot with school and managing work and family, friends and these programs I'm in. I thought I had all that situated, and now all those papers, memories, everything's gone.”
For now, Pena and his roommate, Emeer Bush, a rising kinesiology sophomore at Lansing Community College, are living with their parents, who live nearby, until they can move into their new apartment.
Pena and Bush said apartment management at Chandler Crossings told residents they would conduct inspections of vacant units to find displaced residents a place to stay and that they would offer a unit for the two of them. After a walkthrough of the new apartment, they declined.
“It's unlivable,” Bush said. “There’s mold in certain places. The fridge is filthy. The room I was [going to be] staying in doesn't have a smoke detector. And, you know, we just had a fire.”
Otherwise, they said that they think the apartment management handled the situation to the best of their abilities, all things considered.
A spokesperson at Chandler Crossings said that they would not be commenting on the incident at this time.
Bath Township Fire Department confirmed that the entire building sustained smoke and water damage, but that only units on the third floor had fire in them. No injuries were reported, and all occupants have reportedly been provided with shelter from the apartment complex.
“As far as preventing similar incidents, people need to use common sense when smoking or using combustibles in a dwelling, and making sure smoke detectors are functional,” said Bath Township Fire Chief Mark Koonter. “It's always a good idea to have renter’s insurance.”
The two roommates were offered insurance from Foxen insurance at the time of signing their lease. According to Pena, a Foxen representative said the company is in the early stages of investigating the insurance situation, but that the insurance money would most likely go towards the building.
The building was described as a "total loss," according to Pena.
“We thought we would get covered because it claims that it's up to 10k for personal belongings, and 100k for property damage. If the 100k gets eaten up by the property damage, there's no room for the 10k, and it's per incident, according to the lady,” Pena said. “I feel like we were misled because turns out we need the renter's insurance, and that's what we thought we had.”
Pena and Bush had been living on the third floor of the apartment since last August to start their college careers. Being a first-generation college student and dealing with this within their first year of college has been hard to navigate, Pena said, adding that they don’t want to put any financial burden on their families.
“Financially, I'm not okay,” Pena said. “I have money saved up, but it was basically enough for school. So, I can't really replace much.”
The night of the fire, since their cars were blocked in by fire trucks, they stayed until around 1 a.m., watching as firefighters continued to spray the building to ensure the last hot spots had been extinguished. Breathing in the smoke for hours caused both of their asthma to flare up, and with the loss of medication in the fire, that was a point of concern for both of them.
They received help through a Red Cross program and got money for clothes and doctor’s notes, but said it’s still difficult to get appointments scheduled as quickly as they need them, and noted the loss of Pena’s insurance card.
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Pena noted that several organizations on and around campus have reached out to them for assistance, including people at James Madison College, Lansing Spartan Scholars and the nonprofit The Village Lansing. Both students have started a collaborative GoFundMe to fill in the gaps.
“It's our first year out, so I wasn't really expecting anything like this to happen. It's life changing, but you got to roll with the punches. So, I'm going to keep my head up and try to keep going forward from here,” Bush said. “I know it's gonna be hard this summer, definitely, but me and Felipe have worked like the past three summers and everything in high school. I guess it just won't be anything different, just restarting from zero.”
