Wilmington Star photo
Image from WBTW-TV
Watch raw video of the fire in its early stages
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Below are some local sources for news about the fire in Ocean Isle, NC
WBTW-TV
myrtlebeachonline.com
Wilmington Star
Here is the latest from the AP as of 1:00 p.m. on Monday:
OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. (AP) — A fire at a vacation house where a group of college friends went to take advantage of the last good beach weather may have started on a deck, an official said Monday, as two campuses waited to find out the names of the seven dead.
The home erupted into a storm of fire and smoke Sunday morning in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. Six of the seven students killed attended the University of South Carolina; the other attended Clemson University. Six other South Carolina students in the house survived.
Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith said investigators told her the fire was likely accidental and started in the rear of the house, either on or near a deck facing a canal on the west side of the house. That side of the building appeared to have suffered the most damage. Earlier Monday, Smith had said the fire started on the deck.
“They may not be able to determine what started it,” Smith said.
Though students heard through word of mouth which students survived, the names of the victims had not been officially announced. Classes went on as scheduled at the University of South Carolina Monday, but a garnet and black banner with the school’s mascot, a Gamecock, flew at half-staff alongside an American flag outside a fraternity house. Two black ribbons were wrapped around the columns of another house.
Kaitlynn Forsyth, 20, a junior marketing major, said she learned about the fire while studying in the library Sunday night, and quickly went to the Internet to find out more.
“I seriously just sat there. It took everything not to cry,” she said. “The more we looked at stuff, my heart just sank. I had to go back to studying to fight off my tears. I just imagine it could have been anybody.”
The students had gathered at the home for the weekend to enjoy the fleeting beach weather. All that was left of the home Monday was a charred shell, and a burned-out car sat in the driveway, cordoned off with police tape.
The fire struck sometime before 7 a.m. and burned completely through the first and second floors, leaving only part of the frame standing. The waterfront home — named “Changing Channels” — was built on stilts, forcing firefighters to climb a ladder onto the house’s deck to reach the first living floor.
One witness described seeing three students sitting on the ground screaming as the home burned, and another jumping from a window into a waterway. The heat was so intense the front door was too hot to open, preventing rescue attempts.
The burned home sits on one of a series of peninsulas, all tightly packed with homes, that are about two blocks from the beach and connect by canals. Several houses near the one that burned were filled with college students.
Officials said the group was staying at a house owned by the parents of one of the students. Many were friends from the Delta Delta Delta sorority and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, said Dennis Pruitt, the school’s dean of students.
Brandon Weghorst, spokesman for the national headquarters of the fraternity, said he believed at least three members were killed in the fire and that Sigma Alpha Epsilon was sending a chaplain to help students in Columbia.
“Any time you’ve got one death it’s difficult, but multiple deaths can be overwhelming for a chapter,” he said. “When a tragedy like that happens, especially to someone who’s so young, it makes it more difficult.”
Some of the people in the house had been friends since high school, said Rick Wylie of Greenville, who said his son Tripp jumped from the burning home.
“He’s in shock,” Wylie said. “It’s just an incomprehensible thing for these parents.”
Ashley Moore, a fashion merchandising senior at South Carolina, said one of her friends was in a sorority with the Clemson student. Her friend sent a message to her Sunday evening asking “to keep her sorority in mind because it was one of her sisters.”
“I feel really bad for everybody. It’s one of those events that you can’t help but feel bad for anyone that’s involved,” said Moore, of Spartanburg. “You just give your sympathies to everyone involved and be grateful for the friends you have, keep them close.”
Officials said grief counselors would be available for South Carolina’s 27,000 students. Clemson on Monday said counseling also was being offered on its campus, about 140 miles northwest of the University of South Carolina.
The victims’ bodies were taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Chapel Hill, N.C. Smith said none had been identified.
Ocean Isle Beach is at the southern end of North Carolina’s Atlantic Coast, about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach. Only about 500 people live there year-round, but the town is home to several thousand rental and vacation homes and condos.
From Sunday evening:
OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. (AP) — Fire ravaged a beach house occupied by more than a dozen college students early Sunday, killing seven and sending several more to a hospital.
Six survivors were released after treatment, including one who jumped from the burning house into a waterway, Mayor Debbie Smith said. Officials had accounted for all of the 13 people believed to be inside the home, Smith said.
“There were three kids sitting on the ground screaming,” said newspaper deliverer Tim Burns, who called 911 after seeing a column of smoke rising from the house. “There was one guy hanging out the window, and he jumped in the canal. I know he got out because he was yelling for a girl to follow him.”
Burns said he didn’t know whether that girl was able to escape.
Smith said she believed 12 of the house’s 13 occupants were students at the University of South Carolina; the other attended Clemson University. The private home was being used by the owner’s daughter and a group of her friends, she said.
“Nothing like this has ever happened at Ocean Isle Beach,” Smith said.
The fire struck the house on Scotland Street sometime before 7 a.m. and burned completely through the first and second floors, leaving only part of the frame standing.
“We ran down the street to get away,” said Nick Cain, a student at the University of North Carolina who was staying at a house about 100 feet away.
“The ash and the smoke were coming down on us. We were just trying to get away.”
Burns said he had to fight to keep several of those who escaped from the fire from going back inside to try to rescue their friends. When he approached the front door, he said, it was too hot to open.
“When I was going up to the entryway, you could hear the windows above me explode,” Burns said. “When I knew the flames had taken over, I don’t think I’ve ever felt as helpless in my life.”
From WBTW-TV
The waterfront house was built on stilts, and firefighters had to climb a ladder to reach the first living floor.
“I heard somebody hollering ‘help.’ It was real strong,” said neighbor Nell Blanton. “But they were making so much noise last night, I thought they were playing around.”
The house had working smoke detectors but no sprinklers, Smith said. It could be a day or more before investigators pinpoint the cause of the blaze, said Randy Thompson, Brunswick County’s emergency services director.
Authorities erected a blue tarp to block the view of the fire scene, but neighbor Bob Alexander said he saw investigators removing bodies.
“It’s terrible to see somebody’s children come out of that house this way,” Alexander said.
Family members of some victims gathered in a chapel across the street from the town hall but declined to speak with reporters.
Representatives of the South Carolina school were in touch with officials in Ocean Isle Beach, university spokesman Russ McKinney said. School officials were headed to the scene, about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach, S.C., he said. The university in Columbia, S.C., planned a news conference later in the day.
Brunswick Community Hospital received six patients from the fire, spokeswoman Amy Myers said. All were treated and released, she said.
The victim’s bodies were to be taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Chapel Hill, and officials said it would be several days before their identities are released. Authorities from the State Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are leading the investigation, Thompson said.
Ocean Isle Beach is at the far southern end of North Carolina’s Atlantic Coast. Only about 500 people live there year-round, but the town is home to several thousand rental and vacation homes and condos.
The burned house sits on one of a series of peninsulas, all tightly packed with homes, that are about two blocks from the beach and connect with the Intracoastal Waterway.
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