Theta Tau Sauna Fire
 

Theta Tau at Michigan Tech: Sauna fire, individual burned. See:

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/...5#.UCwMc8jNnpM

Are saunas popular things to have in fraternity houses up north?

Sounds like a huge liability issue.

That was going to be my question, too.

A sauna in a fraternity house? Gross.

I've never heard of fraternity houses having saunas but it's not uncommon for residential houses to have saunas. Mind you, the sauna isn't actually in the house, but is usually a separate shed sized structure that is either next to the house or in the back yard somewhere.

Uh.. really?

I grew up in New England, and I've never met anyone who has a sauna in/outside their house. And I've never heard of a fraternity house having one.

Even as a northerner, this sounds strange to me.

When your average highs are below 40* for 5 of the 8 months school is in session, and average snowfall per season hovers around 17 feet, you'd have a sauna too!

The area around Michigan Tech. attracted many Finnish immigrants. Saunas originated in Finland. They may be more common in houses there...could even be from a previous owner.

Here's this bit from Wikipedia:
Due to the region's geographic and climatic features similar to Finland, the heaviest levels of Finnish Settlement were seen in an area known as the Finn Hook, which includes northeastern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Today, the region is known as having the highest population of Americans of Finnish Ancestry of any region in the United States; in the northwestern half of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan they make up the plurality of population.

Appears to be an outbuilding, not part of the House.
 

From the chapter website
THE CURRENT HOME TO BETA RESTS WITHIN AN AREA OF 7.7 ACRES JUST SOUTH OF THE PORTAGE LAKE GOLF COURSE. THE THREE STORY HOUSE IS SURROUNDED BY TWO PONDS, A SAUNA, VOLLEYBALL COURT, AND BONFIRE PIT. THETA TAU HAS ALSO HAD NINE ST. BERNARD DOGS THROUGHOUT ITS YEARS AT MICHIGAN TECH WITH EACH BEING LOYAL AND PROTECTIVE OF ANCHOR HILL. IN 2006, BETA CELEBRATED 100 YEARS AT MICHIGAN TECH.

(from elsewhere on the page, they bought the house in 1963.)

Theta Tau's house is 2.8 miles off campus, but there are two that are farther away (Phi Kappa Tau and Sigma Rho) (http://www.greek.mtu.edu/map/map.html)

Ugh! My skin began to crawl as I imagined how unhygienic a fraternity sauna might be.

From what I understand from someone who went there, it is supposed to be a coin-flip whether the Snow mounds in the parking lots are gone by Graduation.

I attended summer programs there for 3 years in middle school/high school. One year there was a big snow pile at a nearby ski resort that didn't melt until July. Or, so we were told.