Brothers at the Sigma Phi Epsilon house at East Carolina University were awakened in the early hours of the morning to find their house ablaze. The fire started around 6:20 AM, and the alarms wired to both university and municipal fire control systems immediately alerted authorities as well as the students. The house was amply provided with means of egress, including two rope ladders for the upper floors, but these went unused in the haste to escape the conflagration. Several brothers were helped down from the upper stories by a local resident who was first on the scene, who describes another brother leaping onto a car from an upper window.
All eight brothers in residence at the time of the fire, as well as "possibly" four always-euphemistic "overnight guests," safely evacuated the house. The only injury reported was a second-degree burn suffered by one of the brothers, which was treated on the scene by paramedics. Brothers outside the house tried to quench the flames with trashcans of water, but their efforts were in vain. The fire was not brought under control by firemen until 10:30, by which time the flames had completely gutted the house and everything left within. While at least one dog was brought out by its master, another is still missing and feared dead.
In a particularly ironic coincidence, "campus and Fire-Rescue officials were scheduled to meet today to discuss fire inspections and safety drills that take place annually in February at fraternities and sororities." Fraternity houses at ECU are required to maintain hard-wired fire detection and undergo regular fire drills, but sprinkler systems are not mandatory. Sig Ep's last drill was almost a year ago in February.
Officials at the scene have not yet determined the cause of the fire, which bystanders claim appeared to start on the porch of the house.
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