A halogen lamp started a fire on the third floor of Larch Hall Saturday afternoon, which has left 63 residents in temporary housing.

There were no injuries.

The fire was contained to one room, the contents of which were a total loss, Capt. Tom Hilts, Ames Fire Department, said.

The entire third floor suffered severe heat and smoke damage, and the fourth through eighth floors had moderate to light damage, he said.

The fire department responded at 1:59 p.m., Hilts said. The room was occupied when the fire started. It began when a lamp came into contact with bedding, he said.

Estimated damage is $100,000, but it could be more, Hilts said.

While the third floor has been evacuated, residents of other floors were allowed to return to their rooms at 7 p.m. Saturday, Pete Englin, residence life coordinator, said.

Two rooms directly below the room the fire was in had minor damage, Englin said, and one of the residents of those rooms elected to move out until mid-week while cleaning is underway.

“I think things went really well. All the residents were great and clean-up started within a couple hours,” Englin said.

Randy Alexander, director of residence, said he does not know when residents will be able to reoccupy their rooms, but he estimates it will be after Thanksgiving.

“It’s going to take a lot of work to get back,” Alexander said.

Some may be able to move back sooner than others, he said, because rooms farther from the fire sustained less damage and will not take as long to clean.

“Our goal is to get you back here as soon as possible,” Alexander told residents.

A meeting was held with the displaced residents Sunday at 2 p.m. to inform them of clean-up procedures and begin assigning temporary housing.

“They wouldn’t let me in my own room,” one resident said before the meeting.

Some residents expressed concern during the meeting about not being able to stay together.

“We have a fairly tight floor,” one resident said. “This seems like breaking up the whole floor structure we’ve been working hard to build.”

Department of Residence officials said it will not be possible for all the residents to be housed together. However, they told residents they would look into finding a meeting room for them to continue to hold house meetings.

Alexander said they would also make a list of each resident’s temporary housing phone numbers to make it easier for them to stay in touch.

“A lot of residents are not back yet; there may be some that don’t know,” Alexander said at the meeting.

Alexander informed residents about the extent of soot, smoke and water damage to their floor.

Gary Schwartz, associate director of residence, said they will be following an ambitious schedule to get the rooms back in order.

“Smoke is a pretty nasty thing,” he said. Even the concrete, which absorbs smoke, will have to be sealed and repainted, he said.

Elevators in Larch Hall will be rigged with a key switch system to restrict access to the third floor and panic bars will be put on stairwell doors to the third floor, which only maintenance personnel will be able to access, Englin said.

The residents were allowed into their rooms between 6 and 8 p.m. Sunday to get any personal items they would need for the week and begin moving other items out for cleaning.

The Department of Residence will post additional times for residents to remove things from their rooms.

The Department of Residence will pay for students to have clothes dry cleaned if students’ insurances won’t pay for it.

Other than that, however, Alexander said residents are on their own in replacing or cleaning personal items.

He said many students will be covered by their parents’ homeowner’s insurance.

The university’s insurance covers damage to the building but not its contents, he said.

The university contracted Steamway Cleaning and Restoration to clean all the rooms, as well as to clean any personal items students wanted cleaned at their own expense.

Students were advised that in many instances it may be more cost efficient to replace items such as carpeting and furniture than to have them restored.

The Dean of Student’s Office is preparing a letter to faculty and staff for students who were affected by the fire.

The letter states the circumstances of the fire and asks for their understanding, Alexander said.