The house previously occupied by fraternity Sigma Alpha Mu, located at 712 Broadway St. caught fire early morning on July 20.

The house was vacant at the time of the fire.

Liz Schafer, Director of fraternity and sorority programs said Sammy was suspended in May for violating Tulane’s zero tolerance hazing policy.

Schafer said the New Orleans Fire Department concluded the incident to be electrical in nature, possibly caused by a lightning strike.

The NOFD was not available for comment.

“Ironically, contractors were in the process of installing sprinklers hours before the fire began,” Schafer said.

Schafer said the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta planned to move into the property in August and that the fire has delayed this change to January.

“It’s going to be positive in the end,” Schafer said. “Fiji was set to move into the property in August, but now after a semester delay, they will have a nicer house with a working fire suppression system.”

The former fraternity house at 712 Broadway St. stands next to a vacant lot once occupied by the Zeta Psi fraterinity. After a fire in Oct. 2011 damaged most of the house, Zeta Psi demolished the building. Zeta Psi president David Blakemore said that the fraternity is planning to build a new house on the same site.

“So far, we’ve gotten an idea for the outside of the house, and it’s been approved by the neighborhood association as well,” Blakemore said.

Blakemore said that while the lack of a house means there will not be a Bayou Bash this year, Zeta Psi’s activities will otherwise continue unaffected.

“We are still going to be very actively rushing and pledging this year,” Blakemore said. “We did not have a house during rush last yea,r and it did not affect our numbers, so we do not foresee it being a problem this year either.”