Three ATOs Killed in Ole Miss Fire
 

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) -- A fire swept through a fraternity house at
the University of Mississippi early Friday, killing three members,
school officials said.
The blaze at the brick and wood-frame Alpha Tau Omega house
broke out before dawn, and firefighters needed about two hours to
bring it under control, chapter adviser Al Bell said. Hours later,
smoke billowed out of where the roof had been.
School spokesman Mitchell Diggs confirmed the three deaths.

That's awful. I met several ATOs in my lifetime - great men. My condolences.

-Rudey

Yes, it is a tragedy. There is another thread on this. It might be good to consolidate the two.

I am also going to add a thread in the Risk Management Forum.

:(

I had heard they were missing, but I guess this confirms it. :(

Prayers to the brothers of ATO.

Strange...and tragic. I have a good buddy who's an ATO. Great guy but they tend to be a little off-target.

Also reported on CNN concerning the Ole Miss chapter:

My apologies for pointing out key facts in the chapter's recent history.

I got a call from the soon-to-be-wife this morning about the fire. She didn't know if anyone had died yet. I knew I could probably find something here though.

My prayers go out to the chapter and the young mens' families.

Jason

After living through the deaths of 5 fellow greeks in one local fraternity house fire in 1994 on my campus, and then 3 more in the TKE Fire in 2000, I can honestly say my heart and prayers are with these brothers and their families. The other greeks really need to come together and support ATO through this. On our campus, both fraternities said that it was the support within the Greek community that helped them to continue.

So sad...:(

My thoughts and prayers go out to the ATO chapter, Ole Miss campus, and families of the victims.

As for bringing up former actions of this chapter at a time like this-I think that is just plain sorry. The past is totally irrelevent to this tragedy. This fraternity has enough to deal with at the moment without being drug through the mud about an occurence that happened a few years ago.

Again, thoughts and prayers go out.

Obviously not to the news networks, I guess we'll let the investigators find out. Don't shoot the messenger.

The campus right now is quiet and somber...I'm so upset about this my stomach is sick. There will be a 3pm news conference today on campus. I'll keep ya'll updated....
-Katherine, AOII Chapter Adviser

Please prayer for the Men of Alpha Tau Omega and their family and their friends and the Ole Miss campus. The Greek System here is very close so this is going to affect everyone...

Please keep us updated.

Pics and article

My prayers with the families and the Ole Miss community.

I would really like to see a group like the NIC take this tragedy and turn it into something that can prevent this kind of event from happening.

For several years now, there has been a bill floating around that would allow donations to Greek Housing Corps to be tax-deductable. When improvements are available that can make things safe, but are not affordable without alumni contributions, we have problems. This could have been prevented if the ATO house had sprinklers and other fire countermeasures.

Very sad.

My most sincere and deep sympathies goes to the families, friends and loved ones of those who are greiving their loved ones...

as for Mr. NickLc24's comment- tasteless- absolutely TASTELESS- what a lack of class.
Shame on you.

How sad. Thoughts and prayers to their family, friends, ATO brothers, and Ole Miss greek family.

Uch. Those pictures made me want to cry. I have 2 younger brothers who are ATOs.... The victims' families, brothers & fellow classmates are in my thoughts & prayers.

What's your point there?

This is a thread about three members that tragically died.

This is so terrible...

Oh, and Nick, YOU ARE AN A$$!!!

Katherine, keep me updated...

This is so sad. :(

I am so sorry to have my fears confirmed that these young men died in the fire. My most heartfelt prayers are with them and everyone whose lives have been touched by them.

I'll light a votive candle for them at Mass this weekend, too.

Nicks comments
 

Hey- don't beat up on Nick. He was simply pointing out that CNN did a hatchet job on the ATO chapter in their article.
I too was surprised that CNN would tack that totally irrelevant piece on the previous photo incident onto this story of the fire. CNN was the tacky one. Not Nick!

My prayers go out to the families of those boys. And everyone- drop a line to your congressmen and women asking them to support the bil to make Greek housing donations tax-deductable.

Stacey
DZslund10

I just heard this terrible news from one of my friends. She says the cause of the fire is still unknown. My condolences go out to their families & their chapter.

That is absolutely horrible. My heart goes out to the men and their families and the Ole Miss campus. My husband is an ATO and it'll be interesting to see if their Headquarters does anything with regards to this tragedy.

Even though CNN did put that information about the Ole Miss ATO chapter in their article, it did not need to be brought into this thread, nor did we need the editorializing "but they tend to be a little off-target" by Nick. Really thinking before posting is a wonderful thing (and a lesson that took me a while to learn.)

My thoughts are prayers are will the chapter, the families of the victims, and the entire Ole Miss family. :(

I think we can give Nick a little bit of a break here. Any journalist worth his/her position would have mentioned ATO's problems in the past.

That it was unecessary for this thread is true, but I doubt he meant to be hurtful or disrespectful in his comments. Sometimes you do simply say things without thinking them through.

Wow......no words can express my thoughts right now. Just looking at those pictures made me hurt for everyone involved. My prayers are with the families of the victims, the Ole Miss chapter of ATO, ATO nationally, the Ole Miss Greek system, and the many others that have been affected by this tragedy.

No. No breaks here... No journalist would have said something like, "...they tend to be a little off-target." It was inappropriate for this thread.

I just came from lunch at the AOII house and the girls are all very sad, as is the rest of the community here....tonight there was suppose to be a "Rumble in the Grove" which is where bands like Sister Hazel, Quad City DJs, etc play, but that has been cancelled so the community and university can cope with this horrible tradegy.

I am working on getting clothes donated and tee-shirts donated from sororities and groups on campus so the guys who lost everything can start over. This has been a sad first week back at Ole Miss...an alumn was shot on the coast and is in ICU, an incoming freshmen was killed in auto accident on her way down to school last week from MO, an AOII is in ICU still in B'ham, AL....just a time to pray and thank God for what we have.

I know we are all happy to have our sisters and brothers to help us and support us.

Awful turn of events - my condolences and prayers go out to them.

Any idea of how the fire started???

I was speaking of my friend and his fellow brothers, my Kerry/Edwards friend. If you want to talk about lack of class, you may want to re-read the paragraph describing the 'cotton picker'. But, this is a thread about the current tragic situation. The fact that it was included in the news article is questionable but news is news. The chapter's past history, good or bad, is relevant. Hopefully, Risk Management groups for all Greek organizations will be looked at more intentively in the future after this sobering incident.

The cause of the fire has not yet been identified....the university/community are collecting clothes, books, and toiletries for the guys who lived in the house....

How horrible for all affected -- their brothers, friends, parents, families, Ole Miss. Surely every parent's nightmare.

Ktsnake is right -- we have to make it more feasible for chapters with houses to make sure that their houses have adequate sprinkler and alarm systems. Some campuses have made moves toward this, even without being able to offer tax incentives. We've seen too many of these senseless deaths already.

Prayer are being said.

My neighbor just called and thinks one of the guys that died is our next door neighbor back home. I am praying its not him. But my gut is telling me its him. My whole neighborhood according to my mom is scared its him, noone can get in touch with his parents. My neighborhood only has 12 houses and all of us grew up together.

But I am sending my prayers and thoughts to everyone at Ole Miss, and just praying its not someone I know.

a wire that recently crossed reports that the boys are allegedly from atlanta, virginia and mississippi, also reported:

"...Alford said the fraternity house had undergone a routine fire
inspection Aug. 17, before students moved in for the fall semester.
Most classes began Monday.
Problems found included a lack of fire extinguishers in the
kitchen area, paint stored in the basement and doors blocked with
mattresses.
Alford did not know of any citation issued to the fraternity..."

this is terrible. the families and friends of the victims as well as the brothers are in my prayers.