UNC fraternity fire displaces Sigma Chi members

About twenty men had to find a temporary place to stay after an extension cord sparked a small fire in a Sigma Chi fraternity house bedroom Monday afternoon.

Junior Carter Lorant, president of Sigma Chi, said he was coming home from a run when he saw the fire trucks in Fraternity Court.

He said though the details are still being investigated, an extension cord likely sparked and caught a mattress on fire in a second-floor bedroom. No one was injured.

The alarm company automatically placed a call to Orange County dispatch at 3:24 p.m.

The sprinkler system activated, dousing the room in water and causing significant damage to the room’s floor, which is directly above the house’s dining hall.

Because of the safety hazard, the Chapel Hill Fire Department ordered the fraternity’s residents to evacuate, Lorant said. He said the evacuation could last “over or under one week.”

Senior Zack Zitsos, a member of Sigma Chi who doesn’t live in the house, said he is taking in two of his fraternity brothers, including Lorant. Everyone else is staying with friends, he said.

“They’ll have to double-bunk with guys who don’t live here,” Zitsos said.

Lorant said he isn’t sure how much damage was caused to the building, but the house does have insurance and an alumni house corporation they will work with when assessing and repairing the damage.

Dean Blackburn, assistant dean of students, was on the scene to assess the situation. Blackburn said if any of the students need temporary housing, the University will be ready to accommodate them.

One student’s laptop was lost in the small fire, and Blackburn said the dean of students office will work with Information Technology Services to secure a loaner computer.

“Luckily in this case there were no significant losses,” Blackburn said. “If all their belongings were lost, we would work with the Red Cross.”

Lorant said about $500 worth of food will be removed from the house and stored elsewhere while the house is evacuated.

He said he can’t remember anything like this incident ever happening before.

“I’m just glad nobody’s hurt,” he said. “I’m glad everything’s OK.”

The Town of Chapel Hill enacted an ordinance in 1996 requiring all fraternity and sorority houses, as well as new multi-dwelling units in the town, to have sprinkler systems after a Phi Gamma Delta fire that year caused five student deaths.

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