None of the student tenants at 355 Augusta Ave. have called NIU Students’ Legal Assistance since the fire that gutted their home Friday, although they were in close contact last semester for alleged building code violations.

“I’ve not had a single person call me,” said Attorney Lynn Richards.

The building had a “host of problems,” Richards said. “They told me they couldn’t use a hair dryer and a toaster at the same time because one would short out,” she said.

“At this point, I’m encouraging anyone who’s an NIU student to contact us,” she said. “But right now, they (the former tenants) are making some hard decisions.”

Richards, who was out of town during the fire, said she called the DeKalb Fire Department immediately when she returned. However, they released no specific information to her until after a press conference Monday.

ichards said she assumes insurance held by the building’s owner, Elsner Realty, 100 W. Lincoln Hwy., will cover most of the student’s losses.

It is difficult to put a value on some things, Richards said, adding one student lost notes for a research paper. Another tenant, Mark Ernst, lost much of his art portfolio.

“It’s very hard to determine what you’ve lost when you’ve lost everything,” Richards said. “Then, you have to put a value on it.”

Although the building was inspected by DeKalb Building and Community Services officials in January, Richards said tenants told her they did not mention electrical problems to the inspectors.

But Bill Nicklas, Building and Community Services director, said tenants mentioned possible electrical problems to the inspectors but there was no evidence of faulty circuit breakers.

“We encouraged them to call again, but there was no further contact,” he said.

The only electrical problem reported and found was a broken lightbulb with the filament exposed in the building’s basement. “It was fixed the same day,” Nicklas said at the press conference.

“I would be pretty irritated if we were not informed,” Nicklas said. “It’s like a firefighter not responding to a fire. If someone calls us with an electrical problem, we’re right there.”

While Nicklas said the cause of the fire is “still a mystery,” he said it is not likely the problem corresponds with the circuit breakers. “There was no record of a problem in that back room” where the fire started, he said.

“The best the fire department can say is that it’s an undetermined cause likely to be electrical,” Nicklas said.

The fire department has a list of 10 possible causes for every fire, ranging from electrical problems to arson, Nicklas said. Assistant Fire Chief Reuben Nelson said they made their determination through a process of elimination.

About $300,000 damage was done to the house, Nelson said. Officials from Elsner Realty were unavailable for comment Wednesday.