La Casa Unida (LU House) caught fire early Sunday morning, burning on the southeast corner of the house.
According to an email Dean of Students Matt Hansen sent to Latinos Unidos members, the 911 call was placed at 2:35 a.m. Professional staff from security, residence life and outside emergency agencies were alerted and on the scene soon after.
Indianola Fire Marshall Ted Neller said, “When crews got on scene, the southeast corner of the house was fully engulfed in flames. It had flames on the outside of the house, shooting about 15, 20 feet in the air.”
According to Hansen’s email, when the flames got hot enough, the windows burst and the fire was sucked inside.
“They made an initial attack and knocked it down,” Neller said. “They had it under control within about 10 or 15 minutes after being there, and then it was mostly just looking for spot fires, so there’s not a lot of damage inside the structure, most of it was connecting to the outside.”
The house has been unoccupied for a few years, so no one was inside at the time of the fire.
In a Simpsonian article from February 28, 2024, Wendy Soto said, “The only way out of the house is down a set of stairs, and it’s covered in a carpet material. If the stairs caught on fire, people wouldn’t be able to get out.”
In the same article, Emery-Cunningham said she was aware of the issue and concerns with the house, though there was no current plan to address them.
They believe the fire was mechanical and not intentional. The house is off-limits now until they release to an insurance investigator.
“We can’t go inside yet to learn of the potential smoke or water damage to LU or Simpson property,” Hansen said in the email. “The fire location is the farthest corner away from [the] LU meeting room, so we have some hope.”
