Eight students affiliated with Tau Kappa Epsilon had to find new living arrangements for the semester after a Jan. 5 fire damaged their home. The resolution found some young men living with friends, some finding a new apartment and some even taking shelter in a hotel.

Blake Bradley, coordinator of fraternity and sorority life, said the university offered to pay the hotel bill for about four of the students, who stayed at the Super 8 located on East Main Street for three days.

The men have since found new places to live because their rooms in the house, located at 408 W. Mill St., are uninhabitable. Two students moved to a new location owned by Chris Barrett, landlord of the Mill Street home, while another signed a lease with a new renter.

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Christopher Maniatis, a sophomore from Chicago studying business administration, said he was the first to discover the mid-afternoon blaze.

“All four of those guys at the top apartment pretty much lost everything,” he said.

Maniatis said the fire destroyed fraternity heirlooms including portraits bearing the names and faces of members.

“Things that are irreplaceable were lost,” Maniatis said.

No injuries were reported as a result of the fire.

Bradley said the building is not an official chapter home for the fraternity and is simply associated with TKE.

He said he is not sure how members will be reimbursed for lost items because he does not know who had renter’s insurance.

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Maniatis said some of his fraternity brothers do not have renter’s insurance and an online fundraiser helped pay for damaged items.

Adam Armour, former SIU TKE chapter president, created the fundraiser the same day as the fire, raising more than $5,000 in about one week. The money was distributed to the students who faced the most severe damages, Maniatis said.

The Carbondale Fire Department arrived in about five minutes but did not put out the fire until a few hours later, Maniatis said.

Carbondale Fire Chief John Michalesko said an electric wiring malfunction in the attic was deemed the cause of the fire.

With multiple rooms burnt and out of commission, renovations are needed to make the apartments livable again.

Barrett said he will restore the building but isn’t sure when the process will begin.

“We’re going to… make it even better than before,” he said. “This will be something the TKEs can be proud of.”

Sam Beard can be reached at [email protected].