'Get everybody out'

Junior Jonathan Mak, who lives at a nearby fraternity house, smelled what he thought was a campfire about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. When he looked out his window, he saw the Delta Sigma Phi house on fire.

"I ran downstairs, told my friend to call 911, and then ran over to the house," Mak said. "There were a couple of them outside, so I told them that their house was on fire and that they had to get everybody out of the house."

Jill Simpson of Tinley Park was visiting a friend across the street when they heard sirens.

"We started talking about how close they were getting and we looked out the window and saw the residents standing in the parking lot," she said. "Then we saw the flames and it started to sink in that the fire trucks were headed just across the street."

The fire spread quickly, the fire chief said.

"Dispatch received eight phone calls between the time the fire was discovered and our arrival," Humer said. "By the time we got here, the flames were through the roof."

House members said a ceiling fan in a second-story bathroom caught fire and fell to the floor, Humer said.