Fire burns empty fraternity house

Police investigating a fire that erupted through the roof of the abandoned Sigma Alpha Epsilon house early Thursday morning estimated the damage to the house would be about $200,000.\nOnly hours after North Jordan Avenue had been crowded with herds of students and filled with thick billows of smoke, members of the Bloomington Fire Department, IU Police Department and IU Risk Management entered the building at 1115 N. Jordan Ave. to get the first daylight glance at the damage.\nIUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said most of the fire damage was confined to a room on the third floor where the flames were most intense. Minger said evidence was collected and sent to a lab to determine if there was an accelerant present.\n"If we find a certain material that would normally be used to start a fire, we would be looking more closely at an arson," he said.\nWhile there were reports that a door had been kicked in, Minger said it would be difficult to tell if the damage was done prior to the fire.\n"It's an old, abandoned building, so it's hard to say what marks or damage would be new or old," he said.\nIUPD Sgt. Chad Bennett said early Thursday the cause and origin were unknown. While police were investigating whether there were any utilities on in the house that might have sparked the fire, Minger said he was later told the house's electricity had been turned off for some time.\nPolice were first notified of the fire at 12:15 a.m. when smoke was seen filling the sky above the SAE house.\nAlex Sharp, a member of neighboring house Phi Sigma Kappa, was one of the first people to call for help.\n"It all happened pretty quickly," he said. "There was black smoke blowing everywhere and all of the sudden huge flames started coming out of the top."\nBystanders lined the streets in freezing temperatures in astonishment as the fire spread and the wind carried gusts of smoke for blocks. \nPolice blocked off the street and nearby houses as firefighters rushed to contain the blaze. Some firefighters worked in the back of the house while another climbed in a lift to reach more flames, which had been spewing from the rooftop. \nBy sunrise, firefighters extinguished the flames.\nAs students reached for their phones to notify others of the fire, rumors surfaced that Phi Kappa Sigma, commonly known as Skulls, had bought the abandoned house in the past week. While some members of the fraternity said their bid for the old SAE house was accepted, Dean of Students Dick McKaig told the Indiana Daily Student there were never any plans to sell the SAE house, and Phi Kappa Sigma hadn't bought it.\nPhi Kappa Sigma could be forced out of its current house because the lease is held by Theta Chi, a fraternity that was kicked off campus several years ago. Theta Chi reportedly plans on moving back into its house, which will leave Phi Kappa Sigma without a house of its own. \nMembers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon have not lived in the house since 2002, when they were kicked off campus following a Feb. 2 party that was busted by IUPD, according to a March 1, 2002, IDS article. While the house could have returned to campus the following fall, the national SAE organization announced the chapter would be closed until further notice. \nJunior Richard Brucker said he learned of the fire from a phone call.\n"I drove over and it's like, 'Oh my god,'" he said. "'It's the Sig Ep house.'"\nJunior Tamara Habib of Alpha Gamma Delta said she was one of the first people outside to see the blaze.\n"There were really tall flames, almost above the trees, and immediately the fire trucks got there and started dousing it with water," she said. "It was really scary at first because we thought that it might have been a different house from our angle. We were fortunate that nobody was hurt in that it was a vacant house."\nAnyone with any information about the fire is urged to call IUPD at 855-4111.