UMSL Pi Kappa Alpha House reopens after fatal fire

KSDK-- Saturday on Natural Bridge Road in Bel Ridge, members of the UMSL Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity held an open house at their new home. The house was destroyed by fire, November 29, 2006. That fire also claimed the life of fraternity member Brian Schlittler.

David Watson II is a fraternity alum.

"The biggest thing we want to do," said Watson, "is make sure everything that helped us get to this point, all those people are recognized. We have a website up at pikealum.com, where we listed all these contractors and their contact information. In these hard times, it was a lot for them to be able to donate this effort. And we want to make sure they get the representation they deserve."

Among the amenities in the reconstructed fraternity house is a new sprinkler system. In the basement, the conduit for that sprinkler system is visible, along with huge plastic water tanks.

Watson said, "The Fire and Sprinkler Alliance actually donated five 500-gallon tanks that sit in the basement to give us enough water to basically get to the whole house."

Brian Schlittler will not soon be forgotten at this address on Natural Bridge Road, east of I-170. In a private ceremony, Friday, family members and fraternity brothers gathered and buried Schlittler's ashes beneath a tree in the front yard.

"They had a temporary house that they were renting down the street from here," Watson said of his fraternity brothers. "But this has been our home since 1979. It's where we felt we needed to rebuild, honor Brian's memory, and to make sure this is going to continue to be our home for the next 50 years."