Royal Purple

Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Brandon Gorman TKE member Josh Drew (right) looks on with others and evaluates the damage caused be an early morning fire Monday. The fire, which began in apartment four, destroyed a large portion of the house and caused more than $300,000 in damage. Everybody inside, including the fraternity mascot dog, got out safely.

Each of the five Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity members staying in the house on Monday morning have a different story to tell. Every person experienced a different means of escape and played a significant role in the safety of their brothers. TKE members, Korey Smith, Jeff Peeters and Jared Stange share their stories.

Korey Smith

The barking of his dog, Buddy, awoke sophomore Korey Smith early Monday morning in the TKE fraternity house.

Members living in the building often ignore the fire alarm because it goes off so frequently, but Smith left his room to see what was going on.

"I opened up the door and the first thing I see was smoke in front of me in the hallway, but then all of the black smoke seeped up to my ceiling," he said.

Smith said he put Buddy on a leash and then alerted others sleeping in the house by pounding on their doors.

After the five TKE members who were in the house that night had all exited, Smith said they were concerned one of their fraternity brothers was still inside the apartment where the fire was actually burning.

"We were all going crazy; we were all stressed out," he said. "We were screaming at each other trying to figure out what to do."

Smith said TKE member Josh Drew threw a cinder block into the window and crawled inside to make sure no one was in the room. After they determined no one was in the house, they back away and waited for the fire department.

TKE members stood in front of the house and watched three fire fighters make hole in the front door before entering, Smith said.

"[One fire fighter] carved a hole and fire just seeped out of it," he said. "I just watched the front door and the window panes next to it burn down in front of me."

Continued...

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