Last Monday at 11 a.m., a small fire started in a utility room in the Chi Omega sorority house, located in Sorority Court. Alerted by the fire alarm, Susan O’Shaughnessy ’08, the only student in the house over spring break, left and called 911 before the fire spread.
p. Vice President of Student Affairs Sam Sadler said that the cause of the fire was probably electrical.
p. O’Shaughnessy said when the fire alarm went off, she left through the back door and noticed smoke coming from behind the refrigerator. Outside the house, she saw more smoke billowing out from cracks in the siding.
p. O’Shaughnessy and several housekeepers called 911, and emergency responders arrived promptly. In an e-mail to students, Sadler attributed the quick response to an upgrade in the fire alarm system, which immediately notified Campus Police of the fire.
p. “It wasn’t a huge fire, but once the firemen started chopping into the wall I could see the flames in the insulation they pulled out,” O’Shaughnessy said.
p. Sadler, Interim College President Taylor Reveley and members of the Residence Life staff turned out to make sure the situation was under control and that no students were injured.
p. O’Shaughnessy was offered other places to stay while the house was cleaned and repaired. All damage was fixed by Sunday.