Alcohol linked to 6 deaths in fire

Raleigh | Alcohol contributed to the deaths of most of the South Carolina college students who died in an October fire in Ocean Isle Beach, medical examiners said.

Dr. John Butts said in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Thursday that it was "reasonable and logical" to consider that alcohol contributed to the deaths. Butts has said six of the seven had high alcohol levels, ranging from .16 to .29 percent. One student who died had no alcohol in her system.

Butts' comments came the same week that the autopsy report for one student, Cassidy Fae Pendley, said the 18-year-old died primarily from inhaling carbon monoxide in the blaze. But Dr. Thomas B. Clark III, an associate state medical examiner, also wrote in the report that alcohol intoxication was a "significant contributing condition" in her death.

Pendley's autopsy report was the first to say alcohol contributed to a death in the fire.

Her blood alcohol level was .18 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving a car.

District Attorney Rex Gore, who previously told the media that drinking did not contribute to the students' deaths, said he does not disagree with the medical examiner's finding.

He said, however, that he made the comment after concluding the alcohol consumption would not be a factor in his office's investigation of the fire.

"There is no one to prosecute," Gore said. He said it would only be speculating to try to guess whether deaths could have been prevented if alcohol was not involved.

"All of us know alcohol is going to slow down reaction time," he said. But, he added, it was a rapidly spreading fire.

Survivors of the fire said smoke detectors woke them "with only moments to escape" the smoke and flames that tore through the canal-front house, the report said. Six students, including two who jumped from windows, survived.

Gore said the bottom line is that it was a devastating tragedy for the families as well as Brunswick County.

"I don't want us to ever lose sight of the fact that these young people lost their lives," he said.

The seven deaths were among a total of 14 fire fatalities in Brunswick County in 2007. Officials have said the number is unprecedented but they couldn't detect a pattern because of the variety of housing types involved and possible causes, which included electrical malfunctions, space heaters and smoldering cigarettes.

Staff writer Shelby Sebens contributed to this report by the Associated Press.