Residents unite to help fire victims, mourners

Ocean Isle Beach | At 19, Justin Anderson hadn't decided exactly what to do with his future, said his brother Stephen Anderson, in a phone interview Sunday afternoon.

Stephen Anderson, 23, confirmed that his younger brother, a sophomore at the University of South Carolina who grew up in Greenville, S.C., was one of seven people who died Sunday morning in a horrific house fire in this Brunswick County beach town.

He described his brother as a very pleasant person who rarely complained about anything.

Officials said 13 college students were in the two-story house when it burned quickly to the ground Sunday morning. Six survivors were treated and released from Brunswick Community Hospital.

Justin Anderson apparently died after a night doing what he loved to do - hanging out with friends and watching the South Carolina Gamecocks football team, which played Tennessee Saturday night. He was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at USC, his brother said.

"I'm sure they were (watching the game) last night," Stephen Anderson said.

Officials didn't release names or hometowns of victims Sunday, and no other identities could be confirmed. But USC officials said they thought 12 of the 13 people who stayed at the house Saturday night, including six of the seven who died, attended the university.

By about 5 p.m. Sunday, officials had notified the families of all but one victim, Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith said. Many family members of those killed drove to North Carolina on Sunday to learn more about the tragedy. A coroner spoke to families shortly before a 2:45 p.m. news conference, Smith said.

"We made sure they know the facts of what has happened," she said. "They're all extremely distraught as you can imagine."

Smith spent most of Sunday speaking to members of media organizations from around the country. She is scheduled to appear on ABC's Good Morning America today, she said.

Smith said clergy members and counselors were available for the families all day. Restaurants, churches, hotels, motels, beach house rental companies and other local businesses and residents responded with contributions of food and accommodations for survivors, family members and emergency personnel. Many town employees showed up to answer phones and help out any way they could.

"The town has really stepped up," said Randy Thompson, head of Brunswick County Emergency Management. "That says a lot about the way in which this town works."

By midafternoon Sunday, Ocean Isle Beach town officials had dropped flags to half-staff to honor the dead.

The tragedy revived memories of the March 2006 deaths of four Banner Elk volunteer firefighters who perished after their fishing boat capsized in rough seas off Holden Beach. Nathan Lyerly, 22; Michael Shope, 21; Archibald McFadyen, 20; and Kevin Bell, 38, died of cardiac arrest related to hypothermia after clinging to the 18-foot capsized catamaran and each other. Two other men survived 58-degree ocean temperatures for more than nine hours while swimming to shore.

Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Pro-tem C.D. Blythe said the fire, at least on Sunday, seemed worse.

"This is a lot more traumatic than that because it was right here," he said.

Blannie Watson, who has lived in a house just across the canal from the burned structure for about three decades, said she woke up about 7 a.m. Sunday to the sound of sirens. Soon after, a police officer knocked on the door and told her and her niece, Cathy Westmoreland, who was visiting from Mississippi, to evacuate.

Watson said she grabbled her pocketbook and her dog, Stinker, and the two went down the street, where they remained until the fire was under control about an hour later.

Early Sunday afternoon, the women sat on a second-story back deck, which offered a perfect view of firefighters and others combing through ashes in the home's remains. Watson said flames shot 10 to 15 feet above the roof. "It looked like the California fires," she said.

Watson said hurricanes and tropical storms that occasionally strike the beach town have never affected her emotionally as the fire. Residents usually have some warning about the weather.

"With this, they didn't have a chance," she said. "This is the worst I've ever seen on this beach."

Westmoreland said she felt helpless.

"It's hard to know that's going on next door and there's nothing you can do," she said. "There's just sadness and tragedy. So many families are affected. … Your heart just goes out to all of those families."

Patrick Gannon: 343-2328

patrick.gannon@starnewsonline.com