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Fire Destroys Kappa Sigma House During Homecoming The
following article appeared on Sunday, October 07, 2000 in the Cookeville
Herald-Citizen TTU student David Phillip Huffaker, 20, from Old Hickory, Tenn., received first and second degree burns but was released from Cookeville Regional Medical Center later Saturday. Between eight and 15 other fraternity members and guests escaped the blaze when fire alarms woke them a little after 5 a.m. Cookeville Fire Dept. officials were uncertain of the total number of people in the house because of visitors who were staying there for Tennessee Tech's Homecoming weekend celebration. The call was received by Emergency Services at 5:28 and police, firefighters and ambulance arrived within minutes of the call, Emergency Services personnel said. "It was a hot one," said Cookeville Fire Chief Gene Schmid. "We were able to control the fire within an hour, but our main concern was to get everybody out. "We searched when we went in, and then after the fire was knocked down, we did another search. We're grateful no one was badly hurt." "One witness said the fire seemed to be centered around a computer," Schmid said. "Right now, we think it might have come from an over-loaded extension cord near the computer that was possibly under some carpet. The drapes may gone up first and then the computer.
"You'd be surprised how many people run too many appliances off one cord. And these older houses were not meant to carry so much," Schmid said. "We put a lot of water on it, and until we assess the structure itself, we've advised people to stay out of the house for several days. It was a heck of a fire," he said. "We had to fight it all the way up the stairs. The main thing was to make sure no one was in there." Schmid was satisfied there was no wrong doing involved. "It's pretty straightforward. It was an accidental fire." |
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