THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 13, 1996 TAG: 9605130038
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID DROSCHAK, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHAPEL HILL, N.C. LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
A fraternity house fire killed five people Sunday in a graduation-day blaze at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Three others were injured.
The fire at the Phi Gamma Delta house was reported at 6:07 a.m., said Chapel Hill's fire chief, Dan Jones. A party had been going into the wee hours of Sunday morning, witnesses said.
Firefighters found the building in flames when they reached the scene, located at West Cameron Avenue across from the Carolina Inn and next to the campus.
Later in the day, hundreds of people - some in caps and gowns - walked the street opposite the house to view the house's remains.
``I think this is the most fatalities in a fire in Chapel Hill history,'' Jones said. He declined to say when the house was last inspected for fire safety.
Authorities did not know where the fire started, and its cause was not expected to be determined for three or four days, said Jan Cousins, a Chapel Hill police spokeswoman. The State Bureau of Investigation was called to the scene.
The building did not have a sprinkler system, but one of the injured said he was awakened by a fire alarm.
Authorities planned not to release the names of the victims Sunday, Cousins said. Five body bags were carried out the front door of the fraternity house Sunday afternoon and placed into two white, unmarked vans that left immediately.
Vernon Knight, a 21-year-old junior from Charlotte who went to Saturday night's party, said about 40 students still were dancing in the basement of the fraternity house at 4 a.m., when he left. The fraternity had hired a deejay for the party. Knight is a member of another fraternity.
``My girlfriend called me to make sure I was not one of those in the house,'' Knight said outside the gutted house. ``She knew I was coming over here last night.''
Tim Reid, a senior and president of neighboring Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, saw the flames when he awoke at 7 a.m.
``We went to the third floor window and looked out and flames were leaping over the top of the building,'' said Reid, 22, of Southern Pines. ``We could see the smoke coming out and the flames coming out of the window. I knew it had to be bad. I was just hoping nobody was inside.''
The extent of the damage to the three-story house was not readily apparent from the street. The fire gutted the interior and part of the roof, and the widespread damage made it hard for firefighters to search the remains.
``There is a considerable amount of structural damage to the house and it has made portions of the house difficult or unsafe to enter,'' said Jones, the fire chief.
By early evening, crews were working to shore up the first and second floors of the 80-year-old building, portions of which had collapsed into the basement. The bottom level had not been completely searched and Jones estimated rescuers would continue until at least 8 p.m.
During the school's 194th commencement ceremonies Sunday morning, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Michael Hooker briefly mentioned the fire, offering prayers for those who were injured. He later said that, at the time of the ceremony, he was not aware of the deaths. Most of the 30,000 attending the ceremony at Kenan Stadium were unaware of the severity of the fire.
Hooker went to the scene for a briefing as soon as the ceremony was over.
``It's profoundly ironic on what should have been the happiest day of the year at the university - it turned out to be the saddest,'' he said.
The university set up a public information line and a counseling center for friends and family at the Carolina Inn.
The injured were taken to UNC Hospitals. Adam Jones, 21, of Atlanta, was listed in fair condition. He is a junior and a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. Ben Eubanks, 21, of New Bern, also a junior and former president of the fraternity, was listed in serious condition. Anne Glenn, 21, of Charlotte, was listed in critical condition. She is not currently enrolled at the university.
The Phi Gamma Delta chapter had been placed on indefinite suspension in November by its national office after chapter members sent a sexually explicit letter to prospective recruits. The letter advertised strippers and said its parties had so many drunken sorority women that opportunities for sex were assured. ILLUSTRATION: MAP
JOHN EARLE
The Virginian-Pilot
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chapel Hill firefighters remove the body of one of the five students
killed in the fraternity house fire. The fire chief declined to say
when the house was last inspected for fire safety.
The fire at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house, next to campus,
was reported about 6 a.m. Sunday. Its cause isn't expected to be
determined for three to four days.
Benjamin Harrington, center, the fraternity's cook, grieved Sunday
morning. Five people were dead, and the Phi Gamma Delta house was
gutted.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A rescue worker escorts a young man injured in the fraternity fire
Sunday to an ambulance. Five people died in the fire. ``I think
this is the most fatalities in a fire in Chapel Hill history,''
Chapel Hill fire chief Dan Jones said.
KEYWORDS: FIRE FATALTIES by CNB