After a major fire destroyed the Sigma Phi Epsilon house in May, the fraternity will begin the fall semester with only charred remains of a home at 237 Langdon Street, but efforts to rebuild the structure are already underway.
Immediately following the fire, the members of Sig Ep began to focus on the future, with rebuilding the house as their top priority.
“It is our goal to have a new house built and ready for occupancy in two years,” said Ryan Sugden, vice president of the fraternity’s alumni board.
Over the summer, Sig Ep made great strides in designing a new house that will serve as a model for all other Sig Ep chapters across the country. Both current members and alumni members provided suggestions and recommendations for the new house.
“The rebuilding of the Sig Ep house has been a process. We have been working with the city for a permit for deconstruction,” Sugden said.
Once the permit is issued, the house will be demolished, and the fraternity plans for the new house to be rebuilt on the same site. Currently, Sig Ep is negotiating a settlement with its insurance company and is engaging in a fundraising campaign targeted to alumni brothers.
Stronger inter-fraternity relationships have evolved following the fire. Tau Kappa Epsilon graciously welcomed the 20 members who planned on living in the Sig Ep house this fall.
“It is great that these members will be able to live in a fraternity setting and build a strong friendship with another fraternity on campus,” Sugden said.
The midnight blaze erupted during finals week of the spring 2008 semester, causing an estimated $750,000 in damage, according to the Madison Fire Department. MFD spokesperson Bernadette Galvez described the structure as “pretty much lost.”
Madison Police Department officers who responded to the scene said the fire began at the back of the house and quickly engulfed the entire structure, but questions remain as to the cause of the blaze.
“The cause of the fire is still under investigation,” Galvez said.
While all residents escaped safely, three firefighters suffered minor injuries.
