SN-Mt. Union new $1.1 mil house burns

[hoosier]

ALLIANCE - A fire that started at 1 p.m. Sunday in a rubber trash barrel beside the Mount Union College Sigma Nu fraternity building at 1328 S. Union Ave. temporarily displaced 22 students.

The fire caused $150,000 damage to the new building and $25,000 to contents, said Fire Chief James Reese. The building was completed during the summer and students moved in in late September, said Harry Paidas, vice president of Mount Union College.

Reese said the fire burned through the side of the trash barrel, igniting the siding. It spread upward to the soffits on the third floor, where it entered the roof area, damaging many of the trusses. He said the students would not be permitted to stay in the house until fire inspectors check for structural damage and necessary repairs are made.

The building cost $1.1 million to construct and the contents were valued at $400,000 Reese said.

Students used fire extinguishers to battle the blaze but were unsuccessful. One student, suffering from smoke inhalation, was taken to Alliance Community Hospital for precautionary reasons. He was treated and released.

The students will be housed in empty rooms in other dorms, Paidas said.

[PhoenixAzul]

Even if Mt. Union are our rivals, I really hope the Sigma Nus recover quickly.

[Kevin]

If you're an alumni association looking to build a house for an undergrad chapter, remember, you're going to be putting a bunch of 20-year-old kids in it.

Spend the extra $ and use nonflammable materials. Not only will it save you an enormous amount of insurance money over the long haul, it'll potentially keep your chapter from having to 'start over' or experience damage of this magnitude.

[strubbe]

Best of luck to my brothers at Mt. Union...

[Rudey]

OK I'm going to ask.

How the heck does a fire start in a trashcan. The only times I've seen trashcans with fires are in movies with homeless people in alleyways of Detroit.

-Rudey

[33girl]

Or in Heathers.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by 33girl
Or in Heathers.

One of the best movies of that time period.

-Rudey

[TSteven]

Originally posted by Rudey
One of the best movies of that time period.

-Rudey

ditto

One of the best lines ever - "What's your damage, Heather?"

[AXiDTrish]

My boss is a Sigma Nu from this Chapter. Looks like I get to send him and interesting email!!!

[BSUPhiSig'92]

Who the heck was stupid enough to start a fire in a rubber trash barrel? I'm assuming it's probably some Rubbermaid kind of thing, but you'd have to be a total assclown to start a fire in a plastic trash barrel.

[AGDee]

There's a lady at my work who started a fire in her trash can, which was in her garage at the time. She's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but here is what happened:

She burned popcorn.. really badly, apparently. She didn't want that smell in the house so she opened the door to her attached garage and tossed the bag in the trash can. An hour or so later, she realized that the next day was garbage day so she opened that door to go take the trash out and discovered that there was a full out fire in the garage. The bumper on her car melted and the garage was pretty much totalled. She was lucky it was trash day or her whole house might've been lost.

[GFlem]

I'm one of the brothers at the MUC chapter of Sigma Nu (Ryan Flemming, BI 1809), so maybe I can shed some light on things.

Where do I begin?

OK, first of all, it wasn't a trash-can fire. The trash can itself was sitting five or six feet from the side of the house. What we're all assuming is that someone flicked a cigarette at an ashtray that was adjacent to the building, and it instead landed in some leaves that had collected behind the tray. Those caught fire, and then set the house up. However, the official report hasn't come out yet from the investigators so we're all still waiting.

In the meantime, the brothers have been housed in an empty dorm here on campus... fits us just about perfectly, although I have the only real single in the house (top pin for the win!). We're all safe, and the majority of us have next-to-no damage to our personal belongings. A few rooms were heavily damaged, however, by water, fallen insulation, and by the entrances made by the firefighters who, God bless 'em, worked like champions to get it under control as fast as they did.

The house itself sustained localized heavy fire damage to the roof, where the fire was burning for the longest (in the attic, which was sealed). The repairs are looking to cost about 175,000 dollars... But seeing as how the house cost 1.6 million to build, I'm not too worried about that. The house insurance will cover it, and homeowners insurance is workign to take care of the people who did have damage to personal belongings.

All in all, the important thing is that no one was hurt and that we're all still together.

[GFlem]

Originally posted by BSUPhiSig'92
Who the heck was stupid enough to start a fire in a rubber trash barrel? I'm assuming it's probably some Rubbermaid kind of thing, but you'd have to be a total assclown to start a fire in a plastic trash barrel.

The trash can that they're talking about there was just sitting too close to the side of the house when the house went up. You can tell, 'cause the inside of the can isn't charred. It's melted... kinda streamered-off, like a wax candle. The lid is still on it as well.

The fire DID NOT START IN THAT TRASH CAN.

[strubbe]

Originally posted by GFlem
The trash can that they're talking about there was just sitting too close to the side of the house when the house went up. You can tell, 'cause the inside of the can isn't charred. It's melted... kinda streamered-off, like a wax candle. The lid is still on it as well.

The fire DID NOT START IN THAT TRASH CAN.

Best of luck to you guys. Good to hear no one was injured. Keep us updated.

LHT
Chaz Strubbe
Mu Psi 49

[hannahgirl]

wow....surprised i didn't hear about this until today since MUC is not far from my hometown.

glad to hear everyone is ok!