An explosion caused interior damage inside the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity house on Jan. 6, when a contractor set up a propane tank and heater to reduce the drying time of the drywall work he was finishing in a basement bedroom.
No one received any injuries during the incident as the building, having been deemed unsuitable for occupancy in 2008, was vacant and being renovated.
“The heater was set on a thermostat, so once the room warmed up, the heater shut down, waiting until the temperature in the room dropped to kick on,” Joseph Welsh, president of the Board of Directors for the Delta Rho Pi Kappa Alpha Building Association, said.
“There was a leak, most likely between the heater and tank in the propane line, and the room filled with propane,” Welsh said.
The room’s temperature dropped again, setting off the heat, which ignited the propane.
“We were blessed, first and foremost, that no one was hurt in the explosion,” Welsh said.
Senior Jordan Jacobo said he was across the street from the fraternity house when he heard the explosion.
“It sounded like a bomb had gone off or something. The sound was deafening like a tree or building fell down,” he said.
It was “surreal,” he said, because no one was in the immediate area.
Jacobo said he crossed the street to investigate what caused the noise. He said he was there before all the emergency response vehicles arrived and that he noticed there was some structural damage and that a small fire had started.
A wall between the cement foundation, the basement and the first floor, referred to as a pony wall, had to be replaced inside the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity house as a result of the explosion.
But Welsh said the episode with the heater was not the renovation process’s most significant challenge.
“We have plans for three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a study and a laundry room in the basement of the house, and we have been fighting water issues throughout construction,” Welsh said. “We elected to implement a system that is effectively a French drain under the entire foundation of the house, which drains to a large cistern and is pumped out and away from the house.”
It was the nice weather of week’s past that delayed us, he said, not the explosion. The contractor recovered the construction schedule, which allowed occupancy of the bedrooms “as if the explosion never happened,” Welsh said.
The Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity remodel effort is grounded by three qualities, Welsh said: safety, accessibility and utility.
“We consciously chose to spend money above and beyond code requirements for top-of-the-line safety equipment and systems,” he said. “We know that college undergrads can be hard on a facility, so we tried to gear all our final decisions to our mantra: ‘cost effective and bulletproof.’”
The majority of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity members have returned to the fraternity house, but there is still some construction being finished there, Welsh said.
The reopening of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity house is slated for March 5, a date just days after the fraternity’s 143rd founding anniversary on March 1.
“We have invited some of the college staff as well as our alumni and alumni of other chapters in the Portland metro area,” Welsh said. “We want to celebrate the end of this phase of improvements to the property, as well as allow members of the community the opportunity to see the final product.”
Septembre Russell/Copy chief
Septembre Russell can be reached at [email protected].
