OXFORD – The University of Mississippi will hold a memorial service at 7 p.m. Thursday for three students who died in a fire that destroyed the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house Friday morning.
University spokesman Jeff Alford identified two of the victims Friday as Jordan Williams, 20, of Atlanta, and William Townsend, 19, of Clarksdale, sophomores majoring in accounting.
On Saturday the third victim was identified as Howard Stone, 19, of Martinsville, Va., a sophomore political science major.
“The entire student body is pretty upset about this. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Alpha Tau Omega chapter,” said Gordon Fellows, president of the Ole Miss Associated Student Body.
Twenty other students and a house mother escaped the two-story, brick and wood-frame ATO house, school spokesman Mitchell Diggs said. He said there were no injuries.
MSU President J. Charles Lee expressed his condolences toward Ole Miss.
“The Mississippi State University family is deeply saddened by the tragedy at our sister institution,” Lee said.
Authorities originally believed the fire started in the living area, but investigators announced Saturday that it actually started in the basement.
“The point of origin of the fire has been determined to be a basement bedroom, on the south side of the structure along the east wall,” said Millard D. Mackey, Mississippi chief deputy fire marshal.
He also said there is no evidence that the fire was intentionally started and no indication of foul play, but the situation is still under investigation because there are multiple possible sources of ignition.
“We will initially classify the cause of this fire as undetermined pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation and the analysis and/or development of additional information and/or evidence,” Mackey said.
Alford said two bodies were found in the basement and one body was found in the floor above, but he did not know which student was found where.
Firefighters needed about two hours to bring the blaze under control, chapter adviser Al Bell said. Hours later, smoke billowed out of where the roof had been, and much of the upper floor was in ruins.
A fraternity member who was not at the house when the fire occurred said fellow members told him they woke up coughing and found smoke “everywhere.”
“They said they just ran out as fast as they could, to get out of that building as fast as possible,” said Sean Weidlein, 19, of Middleburg, Va.
Among the survivors, “things are pretty rough right now,” Weidlein said.
Fred Cummings, 19, a member of the Ole Miss cross country team who was out running at 6 a.m., said the smoke was so thick “it would choke you up” a mile away.
“When we saw it, the flames were about two stories above the building,” he said.
At least three fire trucks remained outside the house in the early afternoon, and students stood outside yellow police tape as authorities moved through the charred structure.
Alford said the fraternity house had undergone a routine fire inspection Aug. 17, before students moved in for the fall semester. Most classes began Monday.
Problems found included a lack of fire extinguishers in the kitchen area, paint stored in the basement and doors blocked with mattresses.
Alford did not know of any citation issued to the fraternity.
MSU Police Chief Tom Johnson expressed concerns that a similar occurance could happen here.
“People don’t understand how fast a fire can spread,” Johnson said. “Anytime you get high density occupation like that, if it’s not taken care of it’s a formula for disaster.”
“Let’s just hope we don’t have a tragedy here like Ole Miss did,” he added.