Fire Damages Penn Nu House

[PhiPsiRuss]

http://www.thepenn.org/vnews/display.../41618d77b827b

BY ASHLEY GURBAL
Penn Editor in Chief
A.J.Gurbal@iup.edu
October 04, 2004

Saturday's Homecoming festivities were cut short just after 7 p.m. for some students by a fire at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at 220 S. 7th St.

Pennsylvania Fire Chief Robert Vaylo said the fire began in the basement of the house with electrical wires of a Beermeister, according to Charles Kelley, chief of the Indiana Fire Association. A Beermeister holds and cools a keg of beer.

Twelve to 15 people were in the house at the time of the fire, said Terry Appolonia, director of the Center for Student Life. All four of Indiana's fire companies were dispatched to the scene, Kelley said, and there were no injuries reported.

"Everyone was out when we got there," Kelley said. "We did a primary search for anyone remaining in the building. We had it under control quickly but were on the scene for a few hours."

Kelley said the structure is salvageable, and that the fire damage was limited to the basement, but the first and second floors of the house sustained smoke damage.

Neighbor Katie Chorik (sophomore, speech pathology/audiology) said there were no visible flames on the structure.

"It looked like most of the smoke was coming out of the windows," she said. "You couldn't see flames; it was just piles of smoke."

Appolonia said the brothers who resided in the house have been given temporary housing options through the fraternity system and private housing.

"At this point, we're just letting it sink in," he said. "[Representatives from the Center of] Greek Life met with the students involved and some alumni [Sunday morning], and we're standing by and letting them let us know what they need."

Kelley was unsure of how long it would be before the house would be suitable for the brothers again.

"It's hard to say," he said. "There'll need to be some rewiring, and the electricity and natural gas that have been shut off will have to be turned back on."

A Phi Kappa Psi representative could not be reached for comment as of press time. Betsy Chimock, assistant director of Student Leadership and Greek Life, refused comment.

[PhiPsiRuss]

http://www.thepenn.org/vnews/display.../41b4ab193abff

BY JENNI EASTON
Penn Managing Editor
J.E.Easton@iup.edu
December 06, 2004

Phi Kappa Psi, picking up the pieces of the Homecoming night fire that damaged its South Seventh Street house, is at a crossroads.

The house stands empty, and its 15 former residents are scattered into other off-campus residences, according to Joe Soltis, president of the Pennsylvania Nu House Corporation, which owns and operates the house and maintains support for the fraternity and its brothers.

"There's about $30,000 of smoke and water damage," he said Friday, "and it will be tens of thousands of dollars to get the building up to code."

The fire, which began in the basement of the house at 220 S. Seventh St., actually started, Soltis said, in an old refrigerator in the basement -- not a Beermeister, as was reported by Charles Kelley, chief of the Indiana Fire Association, immediately after the fire. A Beermeister holds and cools a keg of beer.

"It was this 10-year-old fridge," said Bill Shultz (junior, international business), Phi Psi president. "Someone plugged it in for sandwiches or something like that -- not alcohol."

The fire resulted in no injuries.

The university's original offer for on-campus housing assistance stands, according to Terry Appolonia, director for the Center for Student Life, but the fraternity members have made arrangements for secondary, off-campus housing.

"For the first few days, it was probably a matter of, 'Hey, man, can I sleep on your couch?' until arrangements were made," he said Friday.

However, arrangements for some are still sticky.

"We had a guy on a couch for the whole semester," Shultz said. Most of the brothers are currently living with friends or have been able to get into apartments.

Phi Psi members will not be able to move back into the house for spring 2005, as it currently awaits insurance investigation. Repairs have not yet begun.

"We're struggling, financially," Soltis said. "We have a lot of litigation to go. We're still dealing with insurance companies and with (Indiana) Borough, finding out what codes and standards we need to meet. The insurance deductible is $2,500 -- and we've lost over $10,000 in rent for next semester alone.

"There's a terrible possibility that Phi Psi won't be able to continue at IUP."

The Pennsylvania Nu House Association charges brothers $675 per semester for rent based on a house occupancy of 20.

When the house opens, Soltis said, the rent will raise to almost double that to help with losses.

"We don't make money on the rent," he said. "We're really feeling the loss on this house."

Soltis said he was disappointed in the show of support offered by the IUP community shortly following the fire.

"Terry Appolonia and his office have been great," he said, "but we've seen very little in the way of student contribution."

"We had a benefit dance," Shultz said. "Virtually no one showed up."

However, Phi Psi remains active and has resumed normal organizational activities, including pledging and community service.

"It brought everyone closer together than I had thought it would," Shultz said.

Soltis, an alumnus of Phi Psi, remains "very proud of the organization."

"The strength of a fraternity is shown in how it deals with adversity," he said. "Right now, what this frat needs is strong men of character -- and that's what they have."

Shultz is confident that Phi Psi will recover, and rejected the possibility that IUP's Phi Psi chapter would end.

"It's not going to happen," he said.

However, it will be some time before moving into the Seventh Street house becomes an option. The earliest projected date for possible move-in is fall 2005.

Students interested in contributing to the cause can contact Terry Appolonia at the Center for Student Life in the basement of Pratt Hall.