Three ATO's Perish in Fraternity House Fire at Ole Miss

[ISUKappa]

I'll reiterate what I posted over there, here as well:

I can't stress enough the importance of having fire drills. They may be annoying, they may seem pointless, but they are necessary, if not mandatory for some chapters.

Check your bylaws or Risk Management guides; in my undergrad chapter we were required to have a random timed fire drill once a month--usually sometime in the middle of the night. Nobody but the RM chair, President and House Mom knew when they were going to be. Exit procedures were laminated and posted around the house. We also had an in/out system by our front door. The House mom could take one look at that board and know how many women were in the house that night (provided that people made sure to switch their tags) and get and accurate count. We were also required to tell our HM when we were having [female] guests spend the night, in case something were to happen.

The chapter I advise is currently researching sprinkler systems. We're planning on an alumnae fund-drive (okayed by our Headquarters) to help costs as well as increasing the girls' room/board slightly. There is a loan available through our Headquarters to help finance part of the cost as well. In addition, once it's installed, our insurance premiums are reduced by a certain percentage, so it will be beneficial, money-wise, in the long run even though the up-front costs may seem daunting.