The McGill Tribune, McGill University Student Paper - January 6, 2003

Fire guts frat house on University Street

by James Grohsgal, The McGill Tribune
Media Credit: Nathan Lebioda

Firefighters saved the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house from complete destruction after a fire broke out early yesterday morning. Four students were slightly injured. Firefighting equipment blocked University Street between Sherbrooke and des Pins until noon and area residents reported losing power.

The new year began tragically for the brothers of Phi Delta Theta when a fire ravaged their residence yesterday

The blaze began just before 5:00 am when a sofa on the first floor caught fire. Fraternity member Darcy Lacuvée attempted to smother the fire, but it spread through the walls to the second floor and the roof, according to Operations Chief Gaetan Larivière of the Montreal Fire Prevention Department. Fraternity members and Fire Department officials declined to speculate on the cause of the fire. Intense heat inside the building caused windows to blow out and witnesses reported sheets of flames lapping at the blue Greek letters on the second storey of the turn-of-the-century grey stone town house, which the fraternity has occupied since 1989.

Of the seven students sleeping in the fraternity house, four received treatment for small injuries: Lacuvée received burns to his leg, two suffered smoke inhalation and one had asthma problems.

“It’s just a little charred, it’s still good, it’s still good,” yelled a frat brother. The Phi Delts are keeping spirits high.

At 8:00 am, the fire was still consuming the wood frame of the house at 3501 University Street. "There's still trouble because the fire is going inside the structure. It's still burning," said Larivière. "The house was built with big pieces of wood and then bricks and stone around it. We have to find the fire inside the walls, but we don't want to demolish--we want to save this building." The inside of the house appeared almost completely gutted, and residents did not expect to recover many belongings, said Ben Monroe, the fraternity president.

"All I've got is this ratty pair of jeans and the boxers I'm wearing," said Monroe. "Most of the guys ran out of the house wearing their underwear." Monroe and his fraternity brothers sought refuge at the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house on Milton Street. "We're staying here or in a friend's house," said Monroe. "This is the first place we called when we were standing outside barefoot and next to naked."

Monroe has contacted the fraternity house's insurance provider and is awaiting a response. However, irreplaceable documents and photographs were also destroyed. Phi Delta Theta has had a chapter at McGill for nearly a century. Students' Society President Martin Doe expressed his sadness.

"It's a tragedy because the house is not just a residence for students but it's also a house steeped in tradition," said Doe. "It's certainly not something that makes the first day of classes especially nice for people walking through the ghetto to the Milton Gates." Kappa Kappa Gamma house member and Inter-Letter Greek Council Vice-President External Béatrice Chartrand welcomed the seven brothers this morning. "They came to the door at 5:30 am with plastic bags on their feet," said Chartrand. "They've been here all morning, and we're getting them clothes and toothbrushes. We're just glad we can give them a place to stay until they work things out."

SSMU President Martin Doe and Dean of Students Bruce Shore are coordinating with McGill Residences and Off-Campus Housing to find accommodation for the two first-year students and the one international student in the fraternity.

IGLC President Naomi Thé said, "We'll be fundraising for them, and we'll be helping out with their cocoa drive charity fundraiser this winter."

Fire trucks left around noon, and then officials told the brothers of Phi Delta Theta that they could re-enter the house. The trees that were drenched by fire hoses in the morning were now sheathed in ice. Akshay Srivastava, U1 Engineering, stood before a pile of charred beams, a sofa, a mattress, a television and a lump of melted CD jewel cases. He was guarding a few dresser drawers containing his brothers' possessions while they took turns searching for belongings that were not damaged or destroyed.

"The roof's basically a skylight now and the second floor is gone," said Srivastava, who was living in the house and was to be initiated into the fraternity this week.

In the front room of the first floor, the men on the foosball table were black plastic blobs and the pool table was covered in debris. Brown-stained water dripped from every surface into puddles on the floor, as drops rolled down the ornate bannister.