I just was thinking back to when I was in college...the fraternity houses were off campus and generally very open. Anyone could pull up to the house at any point and just walk right on in, no questions asked. I would imagine houses w/ a house mother would not be that lax.

These houses were (as I'm sure most fraternity houses are) old and very rickety...and a few of them probably should have been condemned. I know that one of the houses did burn down about 2 years before I got there - and all people would mention when that subject was brought up was what a great party that was that night. :rolleyes:

Of course, I wasn't in any of these fraternities, so I don't know what types of fire drills or risk management procedures were in place...but I did spend quite a bit of time at one or two of them (only during the day of course ;)), and there didn't seem to be anything like that in place. I specifically remember one house had a fire extinguisher next to the kitchen, but every time it was replaced, it seems they'd get drunk, pull it down and spray it all over the house so the pledges would have something to clean up, or just b/c they thought it was funny.

Granted, most of the Old Houses do not have Sprinklers Systems that is being required today. Called Grand Fathered.

Does anyone think that Fire Drills are followed, not.

LXA does have an Inititave that there is a low cost loan system that is in built to have Sprinkler systems built into the New House. This is paid for by lower Insuance Rates.

As far as putting Sprinkler Systems in older houses, that gets very cost Prohibitive. But I wonder, what the cost of a life is worth.:(

My Heart Goes out to the Brothers Of ATO in Their Lose. It has to be devasataing for them.

Do any of you guys have fire departments close to campus or on campus? I have only seen one campus with a fire department within the campus, it was over at UT-Knoxville. It was approximately three or so blocks from their Greek Row. I know our campus has a fire station about 3 blocks down but we are a small town/campus so it would not be as much of a hassle to get to campus if there was ever an incident.

I'm very glad that the Tuscaloosa fire dept. is only about 1/4 mile away from Sorority Row.

We also have fire drills at the beginning of each semester conducted by the Fire Marshall. I figured that all schools did that?

Sprinkler systems are the only method of fire prevention that is reliable and effective. No one has ever died in a fire in the US where there was a working sprinkler system. Other preventive measures like fire extinguishers, fire alarms, and fire drills may help to save lives, but they're not reliable or 100% effective. Only sprinkler systems are (to date) 100% effective at saving lives. In my opinion, anything else is just tinkering at the margins.

The city of Ames is looking into requiring the greek community at Iowa State to install sprinkler systems. I know a few chapterhouses already have them (mostly sorority houses), and our house corporation is smart and is requiring a sprinkler system be installed when our house is renovated.

I'm amazed in the fires that have occured at Iowa State's greek system in the last 15-20yrs (3 fraternity and 2 sorority ones that I can think of) that nobody has died here.

My thoughts are with ATO.

I am an Ole Miss alum and we are all so saddened by this tragedy. Ole Miss is very much a family. ATO did have a house mother who was in the house at the time and she did escape. Fraternities at Ole Miss do have house mothers, but in my experience they pretty much kept out of the way and people were free to come and go. The basement area of the house was called the dungeon and it is not suprising 2 of the boys were killed there. It would be amazing if anyone got out of there. It just tears me up that these fires are so common and nothing has been done about it. I don't know how any fraternity can even get insured.

At Ole Miss alone since the 90's, there have been fires in the Phi Kappa Tau, Phi Delta Theta, and my own Zeta Tau Alpha houses, plus Crosby women's dorm. No one was killed in any of those fires, but students were displaced for months while expensive repairs were made. The Phi Tau house was completely destroyed and rebuilt just 3-4 years ago; it was the most recent fire.

There was a fraternity house fire at SMU, I believe it was Sig Ep, shortly before I attended there in the early 90's and I even witnessed a dorm fire at SMU. It was surreal. I was walking by on the sidewalk outside and there was fire coming out of a first floor window. I couldn't see anyone around anywhere. It was like a dream. I started screaming "fire, fire" and someone else finally came up and started yelling also. The people in the window above the fire opened their window and we yelled at them to get everyone out. They couldn't believe there was a fire right under them. Fortunately, people did begin to leisurely emerge from the building and someone called the fire department. The damage was minimal and no one was hurt. But I was so frustrated and angry to learn that someone had left a candle near long curtains, both of which were prohbited, and then left the room. What if I hadn't walked by? Two more minutes might have meant a much worse outcome. College students do not take fire safety seriously and their safety is not being enforced. I have that same impotent feeling once again now that members of my Ole Miss family have now been senselessly killed in a place where we all used to have fun. It is going to happen again and again until there are changes. There is such an obsession with hazing that all the terminolgy regarding sororoties and fraternities has been changed so no one's feelings get hurt, but the deadly threat of fire is ignored.

For all of your information, here is the contact information for the speaker I mentioned earlier who talked about sprinkler systems and working with local codes and city councils:

Buddy DeWar
National Fire Sprinkler Assoc.

850-222-2070
dewar@nfsa.org

Here is a link on the web:

http://www.nfsa.org/departments/regi...ldirector.html

The city of Ames has a fire station a block south of campus, right in the heart of campustown, which works wonders for fast response to the faulty alarms and prank alarms on campus, as well as for a central command during riots.
Greekland begins 2 blocks east of the fire station, but there are a few fraternities just up the street 2 blocks from them as well.

Buddy spoke at our housing conference in Vegas last year. He knows his stuff, and I thought that he was a great speaker.

Although not Risk Management related, this quote from the Student Newspaper really caught my attention in these times when the Fraternity System is under fire from many directions:

"We've seen an outpouring of donations from strangers and friends alike. We've seen prayers from around the nation. And while they're both the most revered and criticized sect of Ole Miss, the greek community has again proven its worth in a time of tragedy. Every black ribbon around a greek house's column speaks for the hundreds of men or women who treat this loss as personal.

Every blue and gold ribbon tells Alpha Tau Omega that despite the everyday divisions on this campus right now the Delta Psi chapter of Alpha Tau Omega is thousands of people strong. In this case, it's important to remember that fall is also the time when brothers are made. The three men who lost their lives Friday morning were known first as brothers of a common cause. The history of ATO says that the fraternity was founded not in imitation or reaction to any other fraternal order. It came from Christian principles, and now the mothers, fathers, siblings and friends of those who perished need exactly that. ATO is reaping what it's sown since 1865: an idealistic attempt to foster a Christian community. We should all take notice."

The fire at the ATO was reported to be electrical. Cannpot remember the exact terminology, but sounded like over loaded plugs.

LXA does have a program set up for low cost loans to place Fire Sprinkler systems in houses.

The rub comes to the point in referbing older houses to put these systems in.

While I hate to post something that's bad PR for my sorority, I thought this article was appropriate to post here b/c this is obviously an important issue:

Pledging event lands UNH sorority in hot water

By BRUNO MATARAZZO Jr.

Democrat Staff Writer


DURHAM — A University of New Hampshire sorority will face charges in court after fire officials say the student group violated state fire laws. The misdemeanor charges stem from an incident which took place during an Alpha Xi Delta pledging event on Oct. 8.

Fire Chief Ron O’Keefe said the sorority members covered smoke detectors with plastic bags for an event involving approximately 200 candles. The sorority members apparently covered the detectors to prevent the lit candles from setting off the alarm. The plastic bags didn’t work though and the detectors were set off when the candles were blown out at about 7:50 p.m. on Oct. 8. The group also blocked fire exits with furniture after they cleared out a room for the event. The violations were not deliberate, O’Keefe said, and it is the first violation for the group.

"Common sense didn’t prevail," O’Keefe said of the incident.

Following the incident, fire officials said they will work with the university’s sororities to educate them on fire safety.

This is the second incident in October involving a Greek organization violating fire codes. Ten days after the Alpha Xi Delta, another UNH Greek organization was involved in a similar incident. Fire officials said fraternity pledges allegedly set off fireworks and blocked exits at the Sigma Beta fraternity house as a prank. The fireworks device generated smoke to fill up the second- and third-floor hallways and emergency exits that were purposely blocked. O’Keefe said that incident is still under investigation by the Police and Fire departments.


Democrat Staff Writer Bruno Matarazzo, Jr. can be reached at 742-4455, Ext. 5311, or bmatarazzo@fosters.com

Link to article

We had a small house off campus that held 14 sisters - no adults (it was basically a regular house with lots of bedrooms). There was a sister who was responsible for paying the cable bills, organizing the job list etc. Her official title was house manager but sometimes she was called house mom just for fun. It isn't the same as a "real" house mom who gets compensated for the job.

At otterbein, the houses get inspected every quarter (i believe). We must have operating smoke detectors and radon detectors. As much as it sucks during a false alarm at 5am...the westerville fire dept. is maybe 100 yards from my dorm, meaning it is 150 yards from my sorority house. The Westerville Fire Dept. Rolls out the brigade even for false alarms. In our campus-owned apts, peopel cooking noodles (not burning, just cooking) set off the alarms on a regular basis. But better safe than sorry.