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WVU frat house fire caused by bottle rocket
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^
| Tuesday, November 04, 2003
| Associated Press
Posted on 11/04/2003 1:00:10 PM PST by Willie Green
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:35:23 AM PDT by Jim Robinson.
[history]
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- A fraternity house fire that injured one West Virginia University student and left 37 homeless began when someone fired a bottle rocket into a closet and ignited clothing, investigators said today.
Greg Putnam of New Hope, Pa., received second- and third-degree burns to his face, arms and neck during the weekend fire. He also complained of a back injury after jumping from his second-floor room in the Sigma Phi Epsilon house to escape the flames.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: West Virginia
KEYWORDS: fraternity; oops; wvu
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This is an enormous setback for WVU's space program.
You can bet that Robert Byrd will be pushing for additional funding for safe bottle rocket development.
To: mountaineer
ping
2
posted on
11/04/2003 1:01:39 PM PST
by
Willie Green
(Go Pat Go!!!)
To: Willie Green
TOGA! TOGA!
To: Willie Green
I think in revenge of the nerds, a frat burned down their house to the song of "Burning down the house"
4
posted on
11/04/2003 1:04:14 PM PST
by
staytrue
To: Willie Green
Bottle rocket fired by Saddam diehards or El Qaeda?
5
posted on
11/04/2003 1:04:49 PM PST
by
Steve_Seattle
("Above all, shake your bum at Burton.")
To: Willie Green
For once, I'm actually hoping that alcohol was involved in this. I'd hate to think that West Virginia fraternity boys are actually stupid enough to do this stuff stone cold sober.
6
posted on
11/04/2003 1:05:16 PM PST
by
RichInOC
("Our house...our house...our house is burning down....")
To: Willie Green
Shades of Homer Hickam.
7
posted on
11/04/2003 1:05:41 PM PST
by
EBITDA
("Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not." (Aragorn))
To: Willie Green
Heck, you put your thumb over the mouth of the beer bottle, give it a shake, and presto! Instant fire extinguisher.
8
posted on
11/04/2003 1:05:59 PM PST
by
Grut
To: Bacon Man
So where were YOU this past weekend?
9
posted on
11/04/2003 1:06:08 PM PST
by
Xenalyte
(I may not agree with your bumper sticker, but I'll defend to the death your right to stick it)
To: Willie Green
someone fired a bottle rocket into a closet I wonder if the bottle rocket came with a warning label that said, "FOR OUTSIDE USE ONLY." If not, I'm sure that it will come up when the frat boys sue the bottle rocket manufacturer.
To: Willie Green
All studying Darwinism, no doubt.
11
posted on
11/04/2003 1:08:16 PM PST
by
theDentist
(Liberals can sugarcoat sh** all they want. I'm not biting.)
To: Willie Green
WVU frat house fire caused by bottle rocket Actually, I suspect it was caused by alcoholic consumption.
12
posted on
11/04/2003 1:09:04 PM PST
by
Sloth
("I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!" -- Jacobim Mugatu, 'Zoolander')
To: Willie Green
There isn't much to do in Morganhole, I guess. Maybe the rocket bottle launcher will be the next
Homer Hickham.
To: Willie Green
By the way, boys, when you get the house rebuilt, and you're playing "flamethrower" with aerosol cans, don't point them at the smoke detectors. They work...and firemen and university cops can be ugly customers when they find out you got them out on a run to your place because you were just screwing around. (No, I didn't do it, but one of my brothers did and got barred from university housing.)
14
posted on
11/04/2003 1:11:44 PM PST
by
RichInOC
("Our house...our house...our house is burning down....")
To: Willie Green
A wrist-rocket slingshot and a cherry-bomb is (was) much more fun.
To: Willie Green
Cat #3347-1 Liberal Education - Applied Creative Arson T-W-F 3hrs (Preq. none)
16
posted on
11/04/2003 1:28:21 PM PST
by
glock rocks
(molon labe)
To: Bubba_Leroy
This happened to me back in college, but it didn't burn down the house. Come with me on a not-so-fun nostalgic trip back to 1994. The place: Madison, WI. The month: November.
I was away at an out-of-town football game, and my roommate was home with his parents for the weekend. For some reason, people liked firing bottle-rockets at each other in the hall (it was one long hallway each floor). Evidently, that wasn't fun enough, for the jackass next door decides to fire one under the door into our room.
Well, it must have hit the couch. From what I was told, it smoldered for awhile, and finally launched into flames. The little spoiled brat who caused the issue freaked out, didn't know what to do.
Enter the stoners. There was a group of slightly more than recreational drug users who lived at the end of the hall. They heard this guy squealing, and they leapt into action. One kicked down the door, while another used the fire extinguisher to spray everything in sight. That worked well enough to knock it down till the fire dept came and threw the couch out the window. It started the tree outside on fire because it re-ignited. It was quite the sight for the bar-time crowd I'm told.
Anyway, they had a special Student Crisis fund at school, so you could take a short-term loan to buy books, etc. They took a bit out of everyone's tuition for this stupid segregated fee program, and this was one of the beneficiaries. Ms. Donna Shalala was in charge of it (it was out of the Dean's office, and she was the Dean.) I went to her to ask for information on the application process. She asked me where I lived, and when I told her a fraternity she said "you probably won't qualify" in that lovely liberal snotty way.
And that, my friends, was when I realized the true essence of liberalism: power over others. It gave me one hell of a shove onto the road to being a conservative.
17
posted on
11/04/2003 1:29:11 PM PST
by
bryanbig
To: bryanbig
Dumbass. You were supposed to tell her you were gay.
18
posted on
11/04/2003 1:31:30 PM PST
by
AppyPappy
(If You're Not A Part Of The Solution, There's Good Money To Be Made In Prolonging The Problem.)
To: glock rocks
Cat #3347-1 Liberal Education - Applied Creative Arson T-W-F 3hrs (Preq. none)Are you saying this was part of the multicultural curriculum in International Studies?
To: Willie Green
When I was at WVU ('73-'79), our fraternity had a cannon that actually fired (Kappa Alpha, just down the street from the Sig Eps). We used to stuff things into the cannon and fire down onto the Mountanlair deck (the student union). Never did it sober, though.
That and the HUGE Cerwin Vega speakers we put out that you could hear across campus and made for great Friday afternoon experiences... providing music to many that occupied the Mountanlair deck (and the Science Department, among others)... sorta like a public service. Also, never sober.
Never destructive (unlike certain other frats). Just clean fun and drinking in the mid 70's. College would be no fun today, I suppose.
20
posted on
11/04/2003 1:41:06 PM PST
by
fuquadukie
(This *TAG* line available for *RENT* or sale. Cheap. Any typos are a *REEZULT* of *PUBLIK* edukashn.)
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