Electrical issues start fire at Phi Psi

The parking lot is empty. Doors remain closed and windows shut. No one is going in — no one is going out. The house doesn’t stir.

Following Sunday morning’s fire at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on North Jordan Avenue, residents have had to relocate. The white house looming at the top of the hill has been forcibly vacated.

“Any type of incident like this can be really tough on a chapter (and even community), and we are supporting them as best we can,” said Michael Goodman, senior assistant director for fraternity and sorority life in IU’s Student Life and Learning office.

As reported yesterday, emergency services received a call around 10:15 a.m. concerning a fire in the chapter house. Initially, the fire department showed up to the house but failed to find anything concerning and left, said Thomas Dakich, an Indianapolis attorney representing Phi Psi. When the fire alarm went off a second time, a fire in the back corner of the house was found. The fire is believed to have been started by electrical problems, Dakich said.

Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity does not actually own the chapter house. Instead, the house is leased to the students living there through a housing corporation. The housing corporation, which is led by volunteer alumni, helps the students run the chapter. Shawn Collinsworth, executive director for Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, said he has been in contact with the alumni who lead the chapter’s Housing Corporation.

The Phi Kappa Psi Housing Corporation and the members of the IU chapter have been working with the Student Life and Learning division to resolve the situation.

The Interfraternity Council is acting as a resource for the leaders and members of the chapter, IFC Vice President of Communications Sean Jordan said.

The amount of time chapter members will spend living out of the house is unclear. Dakich said the damage isn’t as extensive as originally thought.  

He also said the chapter was already planning on building a new house. The demolition of the current house was planned for this coming May. A former IU Phi Psi and a current member of the local advising board, Dakich said the board and the chapter had been working on the plans for a new house for about five years.

Collinsworth said he has not experienced any chapter house fires in his 12-year tenure of the position. A former Phi Psi at Indiana State University, he didn’t fend any flames there either.

The closest incident Collinsworth has dealt with was a boiler explosion at the Phi Psi chapter at Oregon State University in 2008. The gas explosion burst through the house, rendering the home unlivable. The experience was similar to Sunday’s because, in both cases, chapter members were uprooted from their homes and forced to relocate immediately. This inconvenience is little when compared with the relief of safety.

“First and foremost is the health and safety of our students,” Collinsworth said.

This gratitude was common.            

“We’re happy that nobody got hurt,” Dakich said. “Local fire and law enforcement helped a lot.”