Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Blaze consumes UW-Madison frat; all residents safe
MADISON — Hundreds of students stood in shock as they watched fire consume the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house on Langdon Street late Monday and early today during finals week at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
It appeared the three-story building at 237 Langdon St. would be a total loss. All 25 residents of the house were safe.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known early today.
Madison Fire Department spokeswoman Bernadette Galvez said the blaze, which was reported at 11:41 p.m., was not brought under control until a little after 2:30 a.m. She said a police car driving past the house on a normal patrol saw a glow in the back of the house and reported it.
Around midnight, most of the visible flames were toward the back of the house, which was built in the 1890s. But the blaze spread quickly and by 12:15 a.m., flames could be seen spewing into the sky from every floor.
"The fire was just a mess on top there," she said. "Sometimes when it gets up to the attic, there's no stopping it."
Madison firefighters were then ordered to withdraw from the house due to safety concerns, according to Galvez.
"They were inside fighting the fire, thick, black smoke was pouring out through the roof and out of the back side of the home," Galvez said. "The (signal) was sent out to tell all firefighters to get out because they noticed some structural weaknesses in the house. So to keep the firefighters safe, they told everyone to get out."
One Madison firefighter was taken to UW Hospital with a non-life-threatening injury, she said. Another firefighter suffered from dehydration.
After firefighters were evacuated, they began spraying the house and the neighboring buildings using hoses that pour out 1,000 gallons per minute. "That means it's an intensive fire," Galvez said. "When you see these flames and you see these ladders, you know the damage is really, really bad."
Ryan Sugden, who lived in the house from 2003-05 and is now on the Sigma Phi Epsilon alumni board, spoke on behalf of fraternity members.
"Over half of them have finals tomorrow," he said. Gone are a semester's worth of notes and books, he said.
"I think the entire situation is tragic. Thankfully no one was hurt. But it's occurring during a very difficult time," he said.
Ald. Eli Judge, whose 8th District represents many students and includes the house, also said the timing makes it even more difficult. "There's no good time for a fire, but this is definitely an awful time," Judge said.
 Flames erupt form the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house at the University of Wisconisn in Madison, Wis., early Tuesday May 13, 2008 as firemen work to douse the fire.(AP Photo/Jeff Schorfeide) |
Fraternity members said they were shocked as they huddled together in circles away from the blaze. They were later gathered onto a Metro Transit bus, where UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam and Red Cross members assisted them.
Sugden said UW-Madison was helping to arrange housing for the night and the rest of the semester. Many fraternity members who did not live in the house were also offering their homes to the displaced residents, he said. Ten to 15 residents had planned to live in the house over the summer, he said.
Authorities blocked off part of Langdon Street to traffic early on, but people stood and watched on the sidewalks until police ushered them out of the area as the flames grew and thick smoke filled the streets.
Galvez said it was a "second-alarm" fire, meaning the department sent twice as many trucks as usual. She said 14 fire vehicles and 48 personnel responded, including firefighters and chiefs.
Galvez said many of the old houses on Langdon Street, including the Sigma Phi Epsilon house, are not equipped with sprinkler systems, as is now required in newly built large buildings.
Sugden said the house was equipped with a hard-wired smoke detector system that lights up strobe lights and sounds a siren. "It did play a role in getting people out," he said.
He said the loss of the house — a physical representation of the fraternity with many memories — will be devastating for alumni and current fraternity members alike.
"When they think of the fraternity, they think of that house," he said. "To lose that physical aspect is very difficult."
"It's disheartening. It's just really disheartening," said Nick Bohlman, 23, a former member of the fraternity.
The two buildings next to the house were also evacuated, Galvez said. She did not know of any damage to neighboring buildings, but the flames came close to them and to trees on Langdon Street.
SECOND FIRE
This is the second fire at the fraternity house in the last nine years.
In June 1999, the house was seriously damaged. In that incident, firefighters arrived to find the front of the house engulfed in flames shortly before 3:30 a.m. All seven occupants got out safely, although two firefighters and a paramedic were hurt. The house sustained $500,000 in damage.
It was also the third major fire in off-campus UW-Madison student housing since November.
On Nov. 18, a house fire at 123 N. Bedford St. killed Peter J. Talen, a former UW-La Crosse student who was visiting his brother, Andrew Talen, a UW-Madison student who lived at the house with four other students. Three house occupants were injured in the fire. Investigators believe the fire was caused by someone smoking on or near the living room couch. The were no working smoke detectors in the two-story, wood frame home.
A fire on Nov. 10 at 505 N. Carroll St. broke out in a seven-story private student residence and displaced 30 people.
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