Spring Break
Greek community bands together for fire victims
Elise Phillips, Assistant Pulse Editor
Issue date: 2/5/09 Section: News
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Three members of the fraternity shared their experiences with dozens of members of the university's Greek community.
"We had a pretty rough week this week," said SPE president Spencer Barrick. "We woke up to the fire alarm sounding and the whole hallway was filled with smoke. Our only option was to get to the roof and go from there. You really don't appreciate life until something like that happens."
SPE member Allen Wooten said the extent of the situation didn't hit him until the fire was contained and only the charred remains of the two-story house were left, but he says that the support he has received from students, faculty and members of the community has been "overwhelming."
"I didn't realize how many friends we had in the Greek community until now," said Wooten.
The SPE members agreed that the most important thing right now is for those affected to return to normal, a point echoed by Dean of Students Lynn Roeder, who was on the scene last Friday when the fraternity's home was declared a "total loss" by Greenville fire and rescue.
"I'm just thankful that they're alive and safe," said Roeder. "[But] our goal is to get them back to a sense of normalcy. They need structure in their life."
The SPE house had a working fire alarm system, and a sprinkler system was scheduled to be installed this summer. Greek housing is inspected every February by the City of Greenville, according to Keith Tingley, assistant director of Greek Life at ECU.
However, Roeder says that if a sprinkler system had been installed, the fraternity members would be "cleaning up a lot of water right now," instead of replacing possessions and looking for a place to live.
The General Administration of the University of North Carolina schools has mandated that ECU install sprinkler systems for on-campus residence halls by 2012, but the university has asked for an extension, citing financial and time constraints. The university is still waiting to hear if they have been granted that extension.
Roeder says that now university officials are sitting down to put "plans together" to implement installing sprinkler systems in residence halls. However, the mandate does not apply to off-campus housing, where some houses are old and could cost up to $100,000 for sprinkler system installation.
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