No Injuries In Greek House Fire

More than 20 Chapel Hill firefighters and several fire trucks were dispatched to the fire at 204 W. Cameron St. at 7:14 a.m., said Chapel Hill Fire Marshal Caprice Mellon.

Mellon said it took about two hours for the firefighters to extinguish the fire, the cause of which has yet to be determined pending further investigation.

No one was injured because the house was closed in preparation for a new sprinkler installation.

"They are bringing the building up to code, but they haven't even started with the renovations," said Jay Anhorn, director of Greek affairs.

A town ordinance requiring all Greek houses to have sprinkler systems by August 2001 prompted the renovations.

The Chapel Hill Town Council passed the ordinance after a 1996 fire at the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity house -- which is located just feet from the Kappa Sigma House -- killed five people.

Mellon said Wednesday's fire started in the basement of the house, which is located in Little Fraternity Court. She said some flames traveled up the stairwell to the first floor, but most of the damage was confined to the basement.

The walls of the basement stairwell were black Wednesday afternoon, and there was a pile of charred wood at the top of the stairs.

"There was pretty heavy smoke coming out of the upper floors," Mellon said.

"I didn't see a lot of flames outside the building."

Officials at Hutchins Construction, Inc. had been planning to begin the renovation work next week.

Jerry Branch, project manager at Hutchins, said the company is sending a crew to the site today to assess the damage.

In the meantime, there are signs outside the Kappa Sigma house warning that the building is condemned as a result of the fire.

Branch said the signs were put up to keep people out of what might be an unsafe building.

"It will probably require structural analysis," Branch said. "First, we will make it secure."

The renovations originally were going to include adding sprinklers and improving the handicapped accessibility, staircases and Internet connections in the house.

Branch said Hutchins now will also be repairing some fire damage.

But he said not everything burned will need to be repaired because some parts of the house are to be replaced.

"Some staircases were going to be ripped out anyway," Branch said.

Anhorn said Wednesday's fire proved that the town's ordinance is a necessary one.

"Unfortunately, I think that this has really reinforced the need for sprinklers," he said.

"That's not just for fraternities, that's for the whole campus. We need to have (a sprinkler system) installed because you never know what to expect."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.