Ocean Isle Beach House Fire - The House and Fire

The House and Fire

The three-story frame house, which was raised on stilts, with an additional ground floor for parking, was situated on a narrow peninsula adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway. Witnesses heard the smoke alarms sounding as the house became fully involved on the windy morning before the first units of the local Fire Department arrived on scene four minutes after notification. Seeing the smoke, the first responding units immediately called for additional manpower by radio during their approach even before they arrived on scene.

Five students who were on the home's first floor got out. Only one occupant of the second floor, a male, was able to escape. He jumped from a window at the equivalent of a third-story height into a canal located adjacent to the edge of the property. There were some reports that a second male student also escaped through a lower floor window.

Town Fire Chief Robert Yoho stated that who survived and who did not seemed to be almost entirely based upon where they were in the house when awakened by the smoke alarms. "All the survivors came from the first floor, with the exception of one, and that is the one that jumped from the third-story window" he told a reporter from WRAL-TV.

Even before the fire department arrived, witnesses stated that it would have been impossible to gain entry and rescue anyone persons still inside, although firefighters initially made an unsuccessful attempt to do so. A home video camera recording taken from about a block away showed the house enveloped in flames as the first fire trucks could be heard arriving. Broadcast of the audio of the 911 calls and that home video on television news media and over the Internet drew International publicity to the fire, as did photos of the devastation and interviews with eyewitnesses and community leaders in the aftermath.

Six of the USC students were killed, as well as the student from Clemson University. Although families of those apparently killed were all notified of the likelihood of the deaths, the bodies were all taken to Chapel Hill, North Carolina for positive identification. The six survivors were all treated at a local hospital for various minor injuries, and released.