The Alpha Xi Delta fire last night at the corner of 5th and Cutler saw zero injuries and at this point the departments that responded to the fire say the historic 1855 house is salvageable. WMOA News spoke with Marietta College President Bill Ruud this morning about the events that transpired last night and carried over into this morning.
"I'm the neighbor. We heard the fire department drive by around 6:30 last night and didn't give it much thought. Then shortly later we noticed some smoke coming out. So, my wife and I both came down here and started at it. We made sure we found people and stayed out the fire departments way. Our fire departments are awesome, unquestionably awesome! They fought the fire, Devola, Williamstown, Reno all came in, and now they are here this morning helping the kids move their stuff out. Small town is great."
For the house, there is water and smoke damage all throughout but is repairable. Most of the flames were caught by the back of the house. This morning the residents of the sorority were on the sidewalk retrieving personal items from the house. The Community has already responded with food, clothing and shelter. Rudd spoke about what is next for the sorority members.
"We are happy everyone is fine. We're a little bit stressed because going through a fire is a challenge. We hope we can find a place for these girls to live for the next four weeks until the rest of the semester then, figure out what we are going do next semester."
Also on site today was the Vice President for Student Life, Richard Danford. Who spoke on what was going on today.
"Most of the women will be able to go in their rooms to retrieve their belongings. Most of the damage to their personal property was smoke and water type of damage. There is one triple room where they are not going allow the women to enter for safety reasons. They will retrieve as much of the women's property as they can and bring it down."
The house was built in 1855 for W.P. Skinner and was later home to Ohio's 3rd Governor George White. The home was later purchased by the sorority in the 1950's. The home is affiliated with Marietta College but not owned by the institution. An alumni housing corporation is the official owner of the property and will be responsible for providing housing and furniture for the near future.
