Fire During Rush - Alpha Chi Omega at San Diego State
 

Firefighters fairly quickly put out a fire at Alpha Chi Omega at San Diego State U. The fire happened on the last day of recruitment, apparently. No injuries, according to an NBC station's report:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/4994369/detail.html

The women evacuated the premises (in black dresses!) -- just a reminder that those %#*& fire drills can save lives, people.

Dang! But I'm glad everybody's ok.

I just saw the news report on the 10pm news!!! Those are my girls!!!! I'm Alpha Chi Omega's faculty advisor!!!!!!

I am so glad that everyone is ok!

Oddly enough, I'm on Gamma Phi Beta's House Corporation Board and we were discussing fire safety at our meeting last Wednesday. We suggested to the collegiate House Manager that the chapter should have a safety presentation by someone from the local fire department. I went home thinking that might be a good guest speaker to suggest to Alpha Chi Omega too. Unfortunately......

You better believe that my office will be stressing fire safety to everyone this semester!

.....Kelly :(

navane, if you have a moment when you next meet with the Alpha Chis, I think it's safe to say you can pass along a verbal "hug" and good wishes from a whole slew of GCers.

Glad everyone is ok.

Every year before pref, we'd get The Lecture from our Greek Life advisor, that candles were a no-no as they were a fire code violation. Every year, every sorority used them anyway. Heh, maybe the advisor was actually right about something. :/

And this is why house corporations won't allow you to keep lit candles in your rooms and why you shouldn't be using real candles during prefs, rituals, etc. Be safe! Prayers and thanks that everyone is safe!!!

Glad everyone is OK.

Open flames are banned in all FSU GLO housing. The ATO house burned down, twice, and there were other scares.

Many chapters get those battery operated candles and use those.

Does anyone know of a place to get the battery operated candles (that sounds funny) other than at Christmastime?

Oh my gosh, I'm glad they're all OK. People leaving candles burning isn't the smartest thing ever... :(

Luckily no one is living in AXO or Sigma Kappa (which is RIGHT next door) right now because those houses are getting torn down for campus expansion and we are getting moved to sorority row.

Still really scary though because it was during one of their pref parties. I am glad they are all ok.

First off, and most important, I am very glad everyone is safe.
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This should be an 'instant classic' for the Weird rush stories thread. Not to mention the possibilities for future rush themes. "Alpha Chi Omega... Hot girls burning down the house!"

Also, I so love this description from one of the photos (image #3). It is not often we are treated to the use of 'gaggle' in a news report.

A gaggle of women in black cocktail dresses stood across the street from the Alpha Chi Omega sorority in the 5800 block of Montezuma Road while fire crews worked to quell the two-alarm blaze.

navane - If you feel it is appropriate, would you let us know any other details and how the chapter did bid wise?

This situation occured just as the chapter was beginning their preference party. As you can imagine, all of the Panhellenic chapters suspended pref parties for the night. Bid Day was supposed to be today; however, instead, preference will be conducted tonight. My understanding is that Alpha Chi Omega will be using Sigma Alpha Epsilon's house for pref.

I wouldn't expect this to have a negative effect on AXO's Bid Day. If anything, the PNMs will probably see how the ladies are able to pull the preference ceremony together and how their sisterhood means more to them than the building that burnt.


.....Kelly :)

The San Diego Union Tribune's article on the fire gives a damage estimate of $120,000, and says the fire department attributes the blaze to a candle that ignited a drapery.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...-bn20fire.html

Google is your friend: http://snipurl.com/httd

Great link!

You might also check with your nationals -- all chapters have this rule and most chapters use "candles" at some point for various things like prefs, serenades, ceremonies, etc., so if you can purchase a set of battery-operated tapers and/or battery-operated votives, you'll be in good shape-- and avoid tragedies like the above! Thankfully, in this instance, no one was hurt!!!

Not to try and make light of this (and I'm glad no one was injured), but did ya'll notice that their house was right next to the McDonalds?

I hope their pref goes well. At least it is good that no one is living in the house anymore. Hopefully they will be moving on to bigger and better things on Sorority Row.

The article in the Sept. 20 online campus paper, the Dialy Aztec, says, in part:

". . . because the girls' house was getting torn down this year to make way for the Paseo project, all of their possessions had already been moved out of the house in preparation for the move to the new sorority row.

. . . the girls were using the house last night for a fall "pref" ceremony. "

So it sounds like they were going to move anyway. (I imagine suitable land / housing is hard to find in the San Diego area at any price, right?)

For those of you who were wondering, here is the information regarding SDSU's new Sorority Row. An artist's rendering of the new houses is included.

http://www.foundation.sdsu.edu/ccrp_...p.html#partsix

At the present time, only three of the university's nine chapters will be housed there; the rest will remain in the houses they currently own.


.....Kelly :)

I'm sorry to hear about the fire, but I'm glad that everyone is okay. (Whew!)

On a side note, HOLY COW! The new housing looks amazing!! :eek:

Just an idea, while we're talking about this -- for chapters that need battery-operated or electric candles, an alumnae / alumni gift could be a nice surprise, couldn't it? Or a Parents' club / Dads' club, Mothers' club project; maybe a Senior Gift to the chapter? Judging from some of the sites on that Googled list from PenguinTrax, there are "candles" available at moderate prices, so whether a chapter has a dozen members or 200, a supply (and batteries) should be do-able.

Yes, my own chapter of initiation is "all-electric," but of course a lot of guys don't tend to get all traditional about "real" candlelight. (Is there a polite way to tell a sentimental sorority alumna who loves the Old Ways that she's welcome to burn her own dang house down, but for the chapter, uh, welcome to 2005?)

wow..
thank god all is well.
good luck and happiness to all involved.

I have friends from high school at the ATO house at Ole Miss. There were 3 boys killed in that incident. It was really sad. : (

Update: Quota was 50 and Alpha Chi Omega met quota and, I think, had 3 quota additions! :cool:


.....Kelly :)

Well done! Congrats to the ladies of Alpha Chi Omega's SDSU chapter.