Nov. 22, 2002

Fire guts Beta Theta Pi Fraternity house

by Casey Clapper and Mike Jones
Staff Writers

Fire gutted an Ohio University fraternity house early Friday morning, leaving members of the chapter homeless and barefoot for the remainder of finals week.

“Everyone has been real supportive,” said Beta Theta Pi senior Rick Campopiano. “It’s something you don’t expect on a Friday morning — to wake up and your house be on fire. Everyone’s pretty much working together to get through this.”

The Beta Theta Pi fraternity house, 23 S. Congress St., caught fire at about 6:30 a.m. One student suffered a dislocated arm when she jumped from a second-story window. The other 28 students left the house safely.
OU junior Leanne Ernsthausen, of Oak Harbor, Ohio, was treated and released, said a spokeswoman for O’Bleness Memorial Hospital.

The Athens Fire Department received a call at about 6:55 a.m., said Chief Bob Troxel. Three fire trucks and about 18 people were dispatched to the scene.

“The fire originated in the formal room,” he said. “The front portion had substantial fire damage and the remaining portion of the structure had smoke damage.”

Beta Theta Pi senior Steven Cespedes, of North Canton, Ohio, said he suspected the fire stemmed from a lamp that was placed too close to the curtains.

But AFD officials have yet to determine the cause of the fire, which appears to be accidental. Damage is estimated at $250,000 in structural damage and $100,000 in contents, Troxel said.

Campopiano, of Burton, said he was the first to see the fire and call 9-1-1.

“I saw the fire in the front room,” he said. “I just started yelling and woke everyone up. Within five minutes everyone was out of the house.”

Aid for the students living in the house has been provided by the university and the Red Cross, said Terry Hogan, OU dean of students.

“We have provided temporary houses for all the displaced students who needed it,” he said. “There have been about 14 or 15 students who have been taken care of at least for the end of the quarter.”

Athens County Red Cross volunteers provided sweatshirts, shoes and comfort kits, which include toiletries like toothpaste and soap, said Sandy Shirey, executive director of the Athens County chapter.

“We got a call from (OU Police Department) that students were all congregated in front of Bromley and in need of clothing,” she said. “Many of the people were barefoot. We gave them vouchers for a local store if they needed emergency clothing. We wanted to check with each individual and make sure they knew that if they had further emergency needs, we will be there.”

Hogan also said OU officials distributed dining-hall meal plans and contacted the professors of the resident’s classes.

The Beta Theta Pi house was up for its two-year Athens City Code Enforcement inspection Thursday at 1 p.m., but a fraternity representative postponed the inspection to a later date in December, said Steve Pierson, director of Athens City Code Enforcement. Athens City Code Enforcement officers inspect all rental property in Athens, including fraternity and sorority houses.

The house had violations during its inspection two years ago, but they have all been corrected, Pierson said. Officials will not know whether the cause of the fire was because of a code violation until a report from the Athens Fire Department is released.

Hogan said OU officials also routinely inspect sorority and fraternity houses to make sure safety and environmental health requirements are met.

“We make sure the chapter houses don’t drop below a minimum safety level,” Hogan said. “If they do the university will take actions.”

AFD, which has been facing funding problems that result in staff shortages, sent 18 firefighters to the scene because the fire occurred close to shift change at 7 a.m., Troxel said. If the fire had not occurred at shift change, only four firefighters would have been on duty.

“We were really fortunate with this one because it happened at shift change,” he said. “Had it been 10 minutes later or three hours before, we might not have had enough personnel. That really made a big difference in getting the fire under control quickly.”

Officers at Beta Theta Pi’s national headquarters in Oxford, Ohio, are investigating the incident and exploring ways to assist the chapter in Athens.

“We don’t know much about the situation, but our first concern is the well-being of the students and supporting them as they move forward,” said Mike Kokkinen, Beta Theta Pi national director of risk management.