Sigma Phi Epsilon house comes full circle

On Friday, Aug. 21, Sigma Phi Epsilon held an open house to welcome the fraternity's new house to ECU. The program, entitled "Sigma Phi Epsilon House Reopening: A Renewed Focus on Safety," was sponsored by the ECU Student Government Association and the Interfraternity Council.

The new addition to the Sigma Phi Epsilon house was constructed after a fire ravaged the "back house" on Jan. 30 of this year. The "back house" was the two-story house located behind the main house that was being leased by the fraternity. A faulty electrical outlet located in the front of the house caused the fire.

Rescue officials received the call reporting the fire at 6:23 a.m. and 10 Greenville Fire and Rescue units arrived at the house, located on Summit Street, four minutes later.

The fire was declared contained at approximately 10:30 a.m.; however, fire officials remained on the scene for the majority of the day investigating the cause of the fire and its point of origin.

Doug Branch, Battalion Chief of the Life and Safety Division for Greenville Fire and Rescue, later reported to The East Carolinian that the fire most likely started five to 10 minutes before the 911 call was received. He went on to say that the house was a "total loss."

Nine residents, as well as four overnight guests, were present in the "back house" when it caught fire. Students escaped by way of the rooftop, windows, doors and the porch. Only one student was injured and was quickly transported to Pitt County Memorial Hospital by a Greenville EMS unit. Officials later reported that the student suffered a second-degree burn on his knee.

Sadly, all of the residents' possessions burned in the fire. This included books, clothes and even laptops. Also, two cars parked outside the house were severely damaged.

Almost immediately, the community began to assist the victims of the fire. The Red Cross Disaster Relief Unit arrived at the house around 7:30 a.m. and began providing food and beverages to the rescue workers and the victims. Clothes were also provided by the Red Cross Disaster Relief to the residences of the house as well as to their guests.

On Feb. 2, the ECU Greek System and the alumni of Sigma Phi Epsilon opened an account, known as the "Sigma Phi Epsilon Fire Relief Fund," to assist the nine residents who were living in the house at the time of the fire.

Interfraternity Council President Patrick Sebastian commented on the fund earlier this year. "The fund is about helping the nine men who were the victims of a fire that destroyed nearly everything they have at ECU. They had all of their clothes, school materials and computers destroyed in the fire. The best thing we can do for them is to help them rebuild their lives here at ECU by helping replace all of their possessions," said Sebastian.

The donations collected by the fund were split nine ways between the residents that lived in the house.

The residents of the "back house" were also provided with loaned books until the semester closed. In addition, the Greenville community supplied the boys with a multitude of clothing items.

Spencer Barrick, one of the nine residents who lived in the "back house," reported that ECU was also very involved in assisting the brothers that lived in the house in their time of need. "Everyone at school helped out tremendously. Sororities, fraternities and students donated clothing, toiletry items and all of the essentials," he said. Barrick went on to say, "[but] it was a whole community effort."

With the reopening of the house, it is obvious that the donations from the community, the ECU campus, the alumni and all others involved have tremendously paid off.

The new Sigma Phi Epsilon house has undergone major changes that make the house much more up-to-date when it comes to safety. The new house contains approximately 150 sprinkler heads, whereas the old house had none. Dean of Students Lynn Roeder reported that if there were a sprinkler system installed in the old house, the fraternity brothers would have been "cleaning up a lot of water" instead of replacing possessions and searching for a new home.

A new alarm system was also installed that would sound throughout the entire house should there be another fire. Another major benefit of the new alarm system is that the Greenville Fire-Rescue will automatically be notified should the alarm be triggered.

The Sigma Phi Epsilon house, which was once two separate buildings, has now been constructed into one. This makes the Sigma Phi Epsilon house one of the largest Greek houses on campus.

The fraternity held an open house from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. with an informational session starting at 5 p.m. Speakers of the program included Patrick Sebastian; Ryan Harris, the Sigma Phi Epsilon president; Matt Brooks, a Sigma Phi Epsilon member who lived in the house at the time of the fire and Student Government Association President Brad Congleton.

Ryan Harris started off by sincerely thanking all of those involved for all of their help and support. Harris wanted to specifically recognize Dr. Lynn Roeder, the Sigma Phi Epsilon alumni, the fraternity's chapter adviser Benjie Minton, the Greek community, ECU as a whole and the Greenville community.

"None of you had to do it, but you did," Harris said.

He went on to add, "It just amazed me how such a good thing could come out of such a bad thing." Also adding that he and the fraternity brothers were "ecstatic" when they learned the new house was going to be constructed, and that seeing the house now was "self-satisfying."

Harris then introduced Matt Brooks by recognizing Brooks for banging on all the doors he could to try to alert his fraternity brothers when he awoke to find his home on fire.

Brooks earnestly thanked the members of his fraternity and said the fire had brought them closer together.

He concluded by adding, "I would like to say thank you to all those who came out and supported us today."

The final speaker, Brad Congleton, encouraged the fraternity's classmates to promote safety on and off campus. "I challenge all students to learn the lessons this fire taught."

With many family members, classmates, alumni and members of the community present, the Sigma Phi Epsilon open house and informational session was a huge success. Other guests included Chancellor Steve Ballard, Dean of Students Lynn Roeder and Mayor Pat Dunn.

This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.