CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- An early-morning fire destroyed Ellis Hall dormitory on the campus of Lee College Thursday and injured 17 students, three of them critically.
Fire Department spokesman Joe Wilson said the three most seriously injured were flown by helicopter to a burn center at Erlanger Hospital in nearby Chattanooga for treatment. The other 14 suffered cuts and bruises and smoke inhalation, but were not seriously hurt.
The three 20-year-olds flown to the hospital were identified as Bill Buchanan, Stephen Stark, both of Cleveland, and Jeremy Burchfield of Memphis. They were admitted immediately to the hospital's burn unit and listed in critical condition.
Erlanger Hospital spokeswoman Paula Bean said Buchanan was the most seriously burned with first, second and third degree burns over 20 percent of his body. The other two were burned over 10 percent of their bodies.
Wilson said an investigation into the cause of the fire had not yet begun because there were still hot spots at the site. There was one report the fire began in the dormitory chapel.
Wison said there was no damage estimate, but the two-story building was destroyed, except for some brick walls which were still standing, and would have to be leveled.
He said the building has a capacity of 77 students, but only 73 were living there.
'All 73 were successfully evacuated. They took three separate head counts, and everybody was accounted for,' Wilson said.
He said the fire was first reported at 2:25 a.m. and about 100 firefighters called to the scene had it controlled by about 5 a.m.
'By the time fire fighters arrived, both floors were engulfed in flames,' Wilson said. 'The fire chief decided not to go in but fight the fire from the outside. That's what we've done throughout the night.'
One unidentified student said when the fire alarm went off, he thought some other students had done it as a prank.
'We went down the hall to see if we could catch them, and when we got into another hallway we saw the flames,' he said.
