Explosion at Oregon State Phi Kappa Psi House

[exlurker]

No one injured, thanks to quick thinking and evacuation. Article posted on local newspaper's site:


http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles...aaa02_frat.txt

Excerpts from longer story:

With only seconds to spare, an Oregon State University fraternity president rescued 12 students and their dog right before their living room blew up in a gas explosion Saturday around 2 p.m.

No one was hurt in the blast that ripped through the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, but students and firefighters credit Phi Kappa Psi President Christopher Gerritz for a timely rescue.

Eight fraternity brothers were watching the OSU football game in a room directly above the boiler when Gerritz popped into the house for a couple of minutes. While his fraternity brothers watched the game, he heard a sound and smelled natural gas. He went down to the boiler room to investigate.

“The steam was just billowing out of the door,” he said.

Gerritz said he knew he might have just seconds to act. He immediately cleared out the eight students watching TV and another four who were in their rooms. He also made sure the house dog, a Labrador-fox terrier mix named Yaeger, was rescued. He then led his fraternity brothers and the dog across the street.

The explosion followed in about 30 seconds, Gerritz said. “It sounded like an M-80 going off, only worse.”

“We didn’t smell the gas,” said Kevin Dwyer, one of the students who was watching the game. “I noticed it as soon as Chris saved my life.”
. . .

. . . Sgt. Jim Zesslin of the Corvallis Police Department said Gerritz can feel good about himself: “He did everything right.”

Gerritz’s parents, Steve and Sandy Gerritz of Medford, were in Corvallis visiting their son for OSU Dads’ Weekend, and his dad was across the street when the boiler exploded.


. . . Zessin said the explosion probably was caused by a natural gas leak. The streets around the fraternity were closed off for more than an hour. The living room in the fraternity house took most of the damage, and windows were broken out. The house will be closed for at least a day, Zessin said.

Most of the 27 students who live in the fraternity were gone at the time of the explosion. Many of them were attending the game. . . .