Friday, August 18, 2006
About 600 feet down Jayhawk Boulevard from Budig Hall - site of the last University building lost to lightning - the women of Chi Omega sorority early Friday morning were forced to evacuate their house after what they say was a lightning strike.
No serious damage was done to the 1925 house, which was renovated in 2000. Lightning initially struck before midnight, residents said, and the house lost power. Power was slowly restored, though power surges from that process may have led to the problem.
Residents noticed a smell of smoke coming from the basement of the house and placed a call to the 911.
Officials responded to a call at 1:48 a.m. Rob Kort, division chief with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical, said the first firefighters on the scene noticed a haze in the house, but could not pinpoint a source. Kort said he was unable to connect the haze to any lightning strike, but he was unable to rule it out.
Nearly 80 residents of the house waited outside along the edge of the Chi Omega fountain as 15 firefighters checked the house for any sign of fire. Chapter president of the Chi Omega house Mallory Hammersmith said a smell was coming from the basement and that previous to the smell, she believed lightning had hit the house.
“It was like a jolt, then boom,” Hammersmith said.
The fire comes in the midst of the University's sorority formal recruitment week. Both Hammersmith and chapter adviser Jane Moseley were concerned that this would make recruitment more difficult. Especially problematic were reports that lightbulbs had exploded from power surges, necessitating careful clean-up to ensure safety.
At 3:05 a.m., Kort said that the cause of the problem was still yet to be determined, but granted permission for the residents to return to the house. Some members went inside to retrieve belongings before the group headed to the Holiday Inn Holidome to spend the night on a ballroom floor.
Moseley said the sorority had plans for occasions when the house must be evacuated, and that the plans always require the women to stay together. Moseley said the women could have stayed at the sorority, but many felt uncomfortable because the building's fire alarm had to be disabled, there would be no air conditioning and they would be able to use only limited power.
Hoch Auditorium burned down in June of 1991 after being struck by lightning. When it was rebuilt later, it was renamed Budig Hall.
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