Fraternity house fire leaves 39 homeless

No one was injured when flames damaged the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house

While most University students will be scrambling to local bookstores in search of new textbooks and coursepacks this week, 39 members of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity will be looking for a new place to live for the semester.

The home suffered major fire damage on Dec. 28. The incident completely destroyed two rooms and damaged others.

Despite major fire-related setbacks, the fraternity will continue its winter rush proceedings and hold its normal events.

Since the house was vacant for winter break, no one was injured during the fire.

Ann Arbor Fire Department Battalion Chief Ed Knieper responded to a witness' call, and when he arrived at the house, which is located on Geddes Avenue, he said the damage couldn't be seen from the street.

EMILY NATHAN/Daily Movers take the surviving furniture from the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house and load it into vans yesterday. The house was damaged in a fire on Dec. 28.

"At first look we didn't see anything," Knieper said. "The hardest part was just finding the fire, which was between floors."

The cause of the fire was due to old electrical wiring, which dates back to the house's conception in 1924.

"It was by no means caused by negligence," said Delta Tau Delta Treasurer and SNRE junior Alex Keros. "Everyone was out of the house for the break. The wiring was just too old."

Keros said the tight-knit group is in high spirits despite the extensive damage to their 74-year-old house, which is now uninhabitable.

"Nobody in our house is really that worried about our current status," Keros said. "We're really just a bunch of close friends and we're dealing with it."

"The important thing is that winter rush will go on," Keros said. "We will still hold events as usual."

The blaze initially started next to the kitchen in the pantry. Keros said from there, the flames probably went right up to the second floor.

"Two of the rooms are completely gone," Keros said.

"Other rooms have damage but mostly things need to be cleaned thoroughly. Things like stereos aren't damaged permanently but could corrode if they're not cleaned."

Presently, a large number of the students are staying at the Clarion Hotel, a service that is paid for by each student's personal insurance policy.

Delta Tau Delta Housing President B.J. Kroppe said those students who do not have a policy with appropriate coverage will most likely have to cover hotel costs themselves.

"They will have to pay out-of-pocket if they don't have coverage for it," Knoppe said. "But we plan to have everyone moved into housing of some sort by next week."

Possible destinations for the students are sublets in houses or apartments or other fraternity houses with extra space, the latter being the most probable.

Keros said as many as five different fraternities have offered housing to Delta Tau Delta members.

"The other houses have been very helpful and the Greek system overall has been great and offered a lot of support," Keros said.

At this point the house is expected to be gutted and repaired to meet Ann Arbor's housing code standards. Keros said this will provide a chance to do some much-needed repairs on the aging building.

"It's a little bit of a blessing in disguise," Keros said. "Our guys will be closer because of this and in the end, we'll probably have a better house too."

Fraternity brothers expect to move back into their house next fall.

The house will be livable at that point, but most repairs will continue into the fall term, Keros said.

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