NORMANDY, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com)—
The death of a fellow fraternity member will mean improved safety for those who belong to UMSL's Pi Kappa Alpha chapter.More than two years ago, fire trapped Brian Schlittler, 25, on the second floor of his fraternity house at 8826 Natural Bridge Rd. in Bel Ridge. The windows were too small to allow him to escape. He died of smoke inhalation while standing under a running shower.
Saturday, the fraternity will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony at 2:00 p.m. to mark the reopening of the rebuilt chapter house. The second floor has been enlarged, a full sized door exits to a deck and the entire building is protected with a sprinkler system.
Schlittler's mother Linda turned her anguish into action after her son's death in November 2006. She became an advocate for sprinkler systems in all campus housing. Working with the local Fire Sprinkler Alliance she helped secure donated materials and labor to install a sprinkler system in the fraternity house.
"We wouldn't be here today without her work," said Dave Watson, president of the chapter's alumni association. "She's been doing work nationally to try to make sure this happens in every fraternity house, every dwelling in this manner to make sure nobody ever loses a life like that again."
Thirty St. Louis sprinkler contractors joined together to donate a sprinkler system supplied with water stored in five four hundred gallon tanks installed in the basement. Alliance program coordinator and retired St. Louis city firefighter Wally Miller said any existing building can be retrofitted with sprinklers. "It's going to be a little bit more costly," he admitted. "But if you want to save a life from a fire, it is the premier system to do that."
According to Miller, fire sprinklers respond to heat generally dousing fires before they spread. They release small amounts of water compared to a fireman using a hose and only sprinklers in rooms where the fire produces heat are activated.
Alumni and collegiate members of Pi Kappa Alpha spent two years raising money and securing donated materials and labor to rebuild the house.
For more information about the effort including a list of contractors who participated, visit pikealum.com
