By Peter Biello
Wilmington, NC – Officials say a working sprinkler system would not have stopped the fire from rushing through the home in Ocean Isle Beach, but it would have slowed it down.
Robert Solomon with the National Fire Protection Association says nothing in the construction or design of beach houses makes them more vulnerable to fire.
"There's nothing that would indicate historically that that type of house is going to be any more susceptible or prone to being a home where we'd expect a fatal fire to occur."
Officials also say that college students are no more likely than other groups of people to fall victim.
Robert Polk with the National Association of Fire Marshalls says the fire does raise questions about what could've been done to prevent it.
"In my mind, the answer to that is residential sprinklers. If the house had been sprinkled the outcome may well have been different."
The North Carolina Building Code does not require sprinklers in single family homes. The State Bureau of Investigation may release information on the cause of the blaze later this week.
*****
Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? Please email us, we'd like to hear from you. news@whqr.org.