Fourteen people, including 11 Brandeis students, were displaced Monday morning after a kitchen fire broke out at their three-story South Street residence. None of the residents were hurt in the blaze, authorities said.The fire broke out at about 8:30 a.m. as Debora Lyon '06, who lives on the top floor of the three-unit building, was frying Tater Tots on the stove, according to Waltham Fire Capt. Tom MacImmis.

While the flames were confined to the kitchen, the rest of the house suffered extensive water and smoke damage.

It took firefighters half an hour to extinguished the fire, which left the kitchen charred and ruined.

Misha Miller-Sisson '07, who lives on the second floor, was jarred out of bed after he heard "an explosion.

"It was huge," he said. "There was a large fireball that burst out the window. All the windows in the kitchen were broken and there was smoke everywhere."

The landlord, Robert Maguire, said his insurance company would cover all the damage to the house, although at press time the cost had not yet been appraised.

Maguire expects that his first and second floor tenants will be able to move back in one week, while it will be at least a month before third floor residents can return.

Other parts of the house suffered significant damage from smoke and water, including the kitchens in the other two units. The bathroom and a closet on the first floor are "gone," first floor resident Matthew Francis '07 said. Francis also said the ceiling collapsed in his unit's hallway.

Residents have come up with different accommodations while they wait to move back in. Some, including Lyon, will be staying on campus.

Assistant Dean of Student Life Maggie Balch, who oversees Residence Life, said yesterday afternoon that while she will find housing for the students, "I have no idea where we'll put them." Lyon eventually found a bed in the Foster Mods, while her roommate ended up in the Village. But Balch added that her office would accommodate the displaced students as long as necessary.

"If they come in here and say we want to stay here for the rest of the semester we can figure out how to make that happen," she said.

Francis, meanwhile, will be going home to Newton while his apartment is repaired. Other residents of the house said they are staying at friends' houses around Waltham. The Red Cross also responded by accommodating the students from other colleges at local hotels.

Maguire said the stove where the fire broke out was relatively new, but thinks the blaze might have been avoided had the tenants kept the cooking surfaces cleaner.

"They probably never cleaned the stove," he said. "If she didn't clean it, whatever she cooked on there ignited."

Lyon went through a range of emotions throughout the day. She said she was relatively calm when the fire broke out, but this changed when she surveyed the damage. "It was very eerie because you don't think about your house burning down," she said. "The whole day's been pretty surreal.

I hope my roommates don't hate me," she added. And sure enough, there was some levity after the fire, as her fellow residents have teasingly, but humorously, nicknamed her "Tater Tot."