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N.C. beach house fire kills 7 students
2007-10-28
An intense fire ravaged a beach house packed with college students early Sunday, killing seven and leaving little left of the structure but its charred frame and the stilts on which it stood. Six survivors were hospitalized and released, including one who jumped from the burning home and into a waterway, Mayor Debbie 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. Officials at the University of South Carolina said six of the students who died were from the school in Columbia; the seventh attended Clemson University. The six who survived were also from USC. The private home was being used by the owner's daughter and a group of her friends, Smith said. "It's a very sad day for the University of South Carolina family," said Dennis Pruitt, dean of students. "We're deeply saddened by this." The fire appears to have affected two Greek organizations from the university -- the Delta Delta Delta sorority and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, Pruitt said. Earlier in the day, a minister at the sorority house declined to comment, as did an adult who answered the door at the fraternity house. The fire struck the house 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. Smith said the house was a total loss. "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." Cain was one of the dozens of college students who filled at least four houses within a block of the burned home. Neighbor Jeff Newsome said the students were going back and forth between the houses all weekend long. "We didn't have any big complaints," Newsome said. "The lights were on all night. They were having a good time." Winds blowing flames over the water, and not toward any of the other residences on the tightly packed row of vacation homes, kept the fire from spreading. The intense heat kept Burns and others from attempting a rescue, although he said he had to fight to keep several of those who escaped from trying. 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." Some of the people in the house had been friends since high school, said Rick Wylie of Greenville, S.C., who identified his son Trip as the young man who jumped from the burning home. "He's in shock," Wylie said. "It's just an incomprehensible thing for these parents." Authorities erected a blue tarp to block the view of the fire scene, but neighbor Bob Alexander said he saw investigators removing bodies from the remnants of the home early Sunday afternoon. "It's terrible to see somebody's children come out of that house this way," Alexander said. The victim's bodies were to be taken to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill. Authorities from the State Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are leading the investigation, said Randy Thompson, Brunswick County's emergency services director. The home had working smoke detectors, Smith said. Ocean Isle Beach is at the far southern end of North Carolina's Atlantic Coast, about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach, S.C. Only about 500 people live there year-round, but the town is home to several thousand rental and vacation homes and condos. 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 with the Intracoastal Waterway. ___ Associated Press writers Mike Baker in Raleigh, Daniel Yee in Atlanta and Page Ivey in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.
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