A cigarette ash set a mattress ablaze in a student's bedroom in a Rosenthal East suite Sunday night, according to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan.The student, who spoke to the Justice under the condition of anonymity, said the fire escalated very quickly from being a small accident.

"I left my room and an hour later I got a call to come back because they saw smoke," the student said. "I unplugged all my appliances and got out. Pretty soon after, the police arrived."

According to Callahan, police officers were apprised of the situation shortly before 11 p.m. They responded immediately and began to investigate.

"The officers responded and the looked at the alarm system so they could locate the exact origins of the concern," Callahan said. "They went to [the suite] and found smoke coming from one of the rooms within the suite and notified the Waltham Fire Department."

According to Callahan, the Waltham Fire Department arrived and found a mattress that had caught fire.

"They had to throw the mattress out the window and beat it with axes," the student said. "Even though the mattress wasn't even on fire, it was just smoldering."

Later that night, police and fire departments interviewed students in the suite about what happened and determined that students were smoking and had caused the fire, though the student said he felt the investigation was not conducted in an appropriate manner.

"Well, the cops basically butchered the police report because they looking for simple answers," the student said. "The only explanation they could find was the cigarette butts and [they] leapt to that conclusion."

Callahan and the Rosenthal Quad director Joseph Oliver said there will be a judicial review to determine what, if any, punishment will occur. Both said the case will be handled very seriously.

Callahan said that when there is any type of concern over personal safety, campus police try to take appropriate action. He also said any type of fire in a residence is a serious concern and that many people can possible become injured.

"There are many concerns when students are sleeping, or have head phones on and [they] could have been injured coming down the three four flights of stairs," Callahan said.

Residence Life is now trying to restore normalcy to the area. Rosenthal Quad director Joseph Oliver said he is trying to be a resource for the student and the suitemates.

"Overall, the big picture is to keep the student focused on his studies and not get so sidetracked that the student gets distracted from the big picture, the reason why he is here, which are his studies," Oliver said.