Most people expect to be in Morgantown, W.Va., when they see burning couches in the front yard, but this past summer, Huntington got a little taste of flame.
On the evening of Aug. 13, members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity set fire to a couch on their front lawn. Marshall University police responded to the incident and immediately notified the fire marshal. Due to a scheduled inspection for all sororities and fraternities, Deputy Fire Marshal Dave Bias had planned on visiting the Pi Kappa Alpha house the following week, but he chose to move up the inspection, considering the circumstances.
"We found many violations including broken windows, de-activated fire alarms and holes in the drywall," Bias said. "We also found lawn mowers, weed eaters and a gas grill within the house. You should never have those in the house."
Bias said this was not the first time they had responded to complaints of fire hazards at the Pi Kappa Alpha house. In the past, Bias said the fraternity had lit gasoline-soaked jeans, mattresses and attempted to light the infamous fire truck aflame. He compared the frequent occurrences to someone having a 'fire fetish.'
"This is Huntington," Bias said. "This is Marshall and we don't tolerate that here."
Michael Wright, junior public relations major from Mechanicsville, W.Va., is a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. He said brothers of any fraternity should represent all of the greek community.
"Burning a couch falls into every single stereotype people have concerning fraternities," Wright said.
President of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity Justin Weis, senior marketing major from Pittsburgh, Pa., said he and his brothers never wanted to draw attention in that way. After Bias shut the house down due to code violations, Weis and his brothers took quick action to make the house safe again.
"We called our contractor and electrician and got everything fixed on the list within four days," Weis said. "We called the fire marshal to come re-inspect and we were good to go."
Stephen Hensley, dean of student affairs, said the members of Pi Kappa Alpha took a real initiative to clean up their house.
"You're always going to find a chapter that is struggling, but the greek system is working hard to improve," Hensley said.
Bias said everyone needs to respect fire safety and take responsibility for their actions.
"The fraternities should not be making last minute repairs in July in anticipation for my annual inspection," Bias said. "They should be maintaining fire safety all year round."
Since the incident, Weis said they have made plans to do just that.
"We plan to have mandatory inspections by our house manager and have our fire alarm inspected regularly," Weis said. "We are going to spend a lot more time on house maintenance issues."
Weis also said he and his brothers plan to schedule a community service day with a sorority to clean the alleys behind their house.
"We want to pick up items that might be a fire hazard such as trash and old furniture," Weis said. "We are trying our best to promote fire safety."
Megan Archer can be contacted at archer15@marshall.edu.
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