Fire at Tufts Fraternity House

Somerville firefighters put out a small fire Wednesday at 100 Packard Ave., home to the Tufts University Theta Chi fraternity house.

According to Thomas Claiborne, secretary of the fraternity, the fire started at about 2:45 p.m. and was likely caused by an electrical failure, possibly a short circuit caused by a fan.

Claiborne said nine students live in the house, but as of about 3:05 p.m. he wasn't sure about the extent of the damage or if he and his frat brothers would be displaced by the incident.

No one was injured in the fire, according to Twitter post from Tufts University.

The fire appeared to have started on the third floor. Somerville Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher said a sprinkler system installed in the house probably saved the building.

It's a very old house, he said, and without the sprinkler system the fire would likely have spread to the roof. The house did suffer from water damage, he said.

At around 3 p.m., firefighters threw burned mattresses and a burned futon frame out of the third-floor window.

Kelleher said a fire investigator was on the scene to determine the cause.

Alex Kaufman, vice president of the fraternity—and new media editor at The Tufts Daily—agreed with Claiborne the cause was likely electrical. It's "definitely not arson," he said, aware that Somerville has had a series of arsons in recent months.