Madison fire officials today said a good working smoke alarm system allowed the residents of the  Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house on Langdon Street to save themselves before fire consumed the building.

Fire officials estimated the damage to the three-story building at 237 Langdon St. to be at least $750,000, including the contents.

Madison Fire Department spokeswoman Bernadette Galvez said the alarm system in the building, which was built in the 1890s, had been regularly maintenanced. "The alarms were sounding," Galvez said. "We didn't have to rescue anyone."

The blaze, which was reported at 11:41 p.m., was extinguished at 2:28 a.m. She said a police officer driving past the house saw a glow in the back of the house and reported the fire.

Galvez said the fire is believed to have started in the rear of the house, but investigators will release a preliminary report later today.

Fire units remained on the scene this morning because officials feared the fire could be rekindled by wind blowing through collapsed ceilings and igniting hot spots in the building, Division Chief Arthur Price said.
Officials weren't sure how many of the house's 28 residents were in the house, but no injuries were reported.

Around midnight, most of the visible flames were toward the back of the house, but the blaze spread quickly and by 12:15 a.m., flames could be seen spewing into the sky from every floor.

"The fire was just a mess on top there," she said. "Sometimes when it gets up to the attic, there's no stopping it."

Madison firefighters were then ordered to withdraw from the house due to safety concerns, according to Galvez.

"They were inside fighting the fire, thick, black smoke was pouring out through the roof and out of the back side of the home," Galvez said.

"The (signal) was sent out to tell all firefighters to get out because they noticed some structural weaknesses in the house. So to keep the firefighters safe, they told everyone to get out."

Three firefighters were injured. Two were taken to UW Hospital and one to Meriter Hospital. The injuries consisted of a minor burn, dehydration and a muscle strain, Galvez said.

After firefighters were evacuated, they began spraying the house and the neighboring buildings using hoses that pour out 1,000 gallons per minute. "That means it's an intensive fire," Galvez said. "When you see these flames and you see these ladders, you know the damage is really, really bad."

Ryan Sugden, who lived in the house from 2003-05 and is now on the Sigma Phi Epsilon alumni board, spoke on behalf of fraternity members.

"Over half of them have finals tomorrow," he said. Gone are a semester's worth of notes and books, he said.

"I think the entire situation is tragic. Thankfully no one was hurt. But it's occurring during a very difficult time," he said.

Ald. Eli Judge, whose 8th District represents many students and includes the house, also said the timing makes it even more difficult. "There's no good time for a fire, but this is definitely an awful time," Judge said.

Fraternity members said they were shocked as they huddled together in circles away from the blaze. They were later gathered onto a Metro Transit bus, where UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam and Red Cross members assisted them.

Sugden said UW-Madison was helping to arrange housing for the night and the rest of the semester. Many fraternity members who did not live in the house were also offering their homes to the displaced residents, he said. Ten to 15 residents had planned to live in the house over the summer, he said.

Galvez said it was a "second-alarm" fire, meaning the department sent twice as many trucks as usual. She said 14 fire vehicles and 48 personnel responded, including firefighters and chiefs.

Galvez said many of the old houses on Langdon Street, including the Sigma Phi Epsilon house, are not equipped with sprinkler systems, as is now required in newly built large buildings.

Sugden said the house was equipped with a hard-wired smoke detector system that lights up strobe lights and sounds a siren.

He said the loss of the house — a physical representation of the fraternity with many memories — will be devastating for alumni and current fraternity members alike.

"When they think of the fraternity, they think of that house," he said. "To lose that physical aspect is very difficult."

"It's disheartening. It's just really disheartening," said Nick Bohlman, 23, a former member of the fraternity.

The two buildings next to the house were also evacuated, Galvez said. She did not know of any damage to neighboring buildings, but the flames came close to them and to trees on Langdon Street.

Second fire

This is the second fire at the fraternity house in the last nine years.

In June 1999, the house was seriously damaged. In that incident, firefighters arrived to find the front of the house engulfed in flames shortly before 3:30 a.m. All seven occupants got out safely, although two firefighters and a paramedic were hurt. The house sustained $500,000 in damage.

It was also the third major fire in off-campus UW-Madison student housing since November.

On Nov. 18, a house fire at 123 N. Bedford St. killed Peter J. Talen, a former UW-La Crosse student who was visiting his brother, Andrew Talen, a UW-Madison student who lived at the house with four other students. Three house occupants were injured in the fire.

Investigators believe the fire was caused by someone smoking on or near the living room couch. The were no working smoke detectors in the two-story, wood frame home.

A fire on Nov. 10 at 505 N. Carroll St. broke out in a seven-story private student residence and displaced 30 people.

Sigma Phi Epsilon was also in the news last week, after UW-Madison authorities said they were looking into a possible reverse hazing incident at the fraternity in which human excrement and vomit were dumped on fraternity members. No one was hurt in that incident, a UW-Madison official said.