The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house, 237 Langdon St., which was completely destroyed by a fire in May 2008, recently began its long road to reconstruction.
According to Ryan Sugden, alumni board vice president of the fraternity, though the fire occurred more than a year ago, many unknown details and specifics prevented the rebuild from moving at a faster pace.
Sugden also said the fraternity's alumni board aggressively pursued a number of different housing options on campus, including purchasing a new property, before the insurance settlement was reached.
""We recently reached a settlement with our insurance company, which was the last hurdle before we could bring the house down,"" Sugden said. ""We are now in a good position to quickly move ahead with rebuilding.""
Although the fraternity is content with focusing on the future, according to Lt. Brad Olson of the Madison Fire Department, the cause of the fire remains undetermined.
""We've never received any more information to help us reach a conclusion,"" Olson said. ""The case is still open, but we've exhausted most of the information that we've obtained.""
The downtown and campus area has not seen any fires of this magnitude over the past year, but Olson emphasized that fires occur downtown almost every weekend because of people doing such things as lighting kiosks and trash cans on fire.
""We try to educate the downtown community on fire safety—just be smart and make smart decisions—but it's hard for some of these people to understand,"" he said.
Some of the smart decisions Olson likes to focus on are making sure smoke detectors are working and being aware of your surroundings.
""More than likely we'll see an increase in the number of responses downtown as more people move in and school starts up again,"" he said. ""People have to be very diligent about their fire behavior and their behavior in general.""
Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8, who represents the Langdon neighborhood, said he hopes the rebuild will strengthen not only the Langdon area, but the Greek community as a whole.
""I think anytime you have a burnt-out empty structure in a vibrant student neighborhood it detracts from the potential of the area, so I'm excited to see some redevelopment,"" he said.
Anyone with information to help the MFD is encouraged to call 608-266-4488 and leave a message with Lt. Olson.
