Canadians Go Greek: the source for Canadian Chapters

The McGill Daily, McGill University Student Paper - January 9, 2003

by Denise Brunsdon, The McGill Daily

While most McGill students were just returning home from vacation, the members of Phi Delta Theta were watching their home go up in smoke.

The fraternity house facing McGill’s Milton Gates was completely gutted in a fire Monday morning that is estimated to have caused over $250,000 in damage. Four students were slightly injured in the fire.

The charred remains of the Phi Delta Theta frat house.

Two residents were treated for smoke inhalation, one for asthma, and another for second degree burns. Although neither firefighters nor fraternity members could pinpoint the exact cause of the fire, it is known that the blaze began with a first-floor couch and spread within minutes to all three floors of the house. Darcy La Couvée, a U0 Arts student and a resident of the house, was the first to discover the fire.

Explaining he couldn’t sleep because of a “putrid” smell, La Couvée went to the first floor living room, and found the couch was on fire. He said he then tried to smother the flames with a blanket, which caught fire as well. He went to the kitchen to get a bucket of water, but upon returning found the flames leaping from floor to ceiling and spreading too rapidly to be contained.

“There’s no time to think. In two minutes the whole building was entirely lit,” said La Couvée, who then called 911 and began knocking on doors to wake up the other fraternity members. Moments after regrouping outside, the house residents realized that one person, Brinley Tilley, was still inside.

Against the advice of fraternity president Ben Monroe, La Couvée and U3 Arts student Zachary Ehrenreich went back into the burning building to knock down Tilley’s door. Said Ehrenreich, “I thought we were going to die.” Chief of Operations for the Montreal Fire Department, Gaétan Larivière, called it a “four-alarm blaze.”

The fire, which started at approximately 4:50 am and was under control by 8:20 am, required 25 firetrucks and almost a 100 firefighters. “The whole building was stripped from inside,” said Larivière, explaining that the walls, ceilings, and windows were completely destroyed in temperatures estimated at up to 1200 degrees.

La Couvée said the house’s residents evacuated in such a hurry that most of them didn’t have time to get dressed. He said their possessions were mostly destroyed. “There’s nothing that can be recovered,” said La Couvée.

The fraternity members are now living in temporary accommodations, since the house cannot be immediately rebuilt. “The biggest issue right now is trying to find these students a new home for the semester,” said SSMU President Martin Doe.

Currently, the fraternity members are staying either in temporary residence overflow spaces or with friends. In spite of the damage, the dispossessed residents are maintaining a sense of humour and perspective.

When a passerby outside the charred structure requested “a light” for a cigarette, La Couvée responded, “You should have been here an hour ago.” "Yes, we’re feeling homeless,” said La Couvee, “but we’re also feeling happy because we’re all alive.”