KILL DEVIL HILLS — Investigators are still trying to determine what caused a Friday morning fire that destroyed a historic oceanfront cottage and killed three vacationers, including a teenager.
Three others in the house at 1825 N. Virginia Dare Trail were injured — two seriously.
Firefighters were dispatched at 2:20 a.m. and arrived two minutes later to find the four-bedroom, four-bath house “fully engulfed in flames,” said Rachel Tackett, spokesperson for the Town of Kill Devil Hills.
Carried by 15 to 17 mph winds, the fire spread to the home next door to the south and left minor damage to the adjacent house to the north. Everyone in those homes escaped without injury.
Authorities had not publicly identified the victims by Friday afternoon, but said they were two adults and a teen. Two other adults with serious injuries were taken to regional trauma centers. Their conditions were unknown Friday afternoon. Another teenager suffered minor injuries and was treated and released from The Outer Banks Hospital, Tackett said. She said investigators have not confirmed where the victims are from, but cars in the driveway had Maryland license plates.
Tackett said it was unclear if the house had working smoke detectors.
The cottage was built in 1948 and was placed on the town’s “local historic landmark” list in 2011. It had twice been moved west to protect it from being lost to the Atlantic Ocean, according to town records.
The blaze was the second major fire on the Outer Banks within about eight hours. A home in Duck also was destroyed Thursday evening by a fire believed to have started due to lightning.
Firefighters were called to the blaze in the 100 block of Beachcomber Court in the Four Seasons subdivision at 6:06 p.m.
“Although the cause of the fire is not yet confirmed at this time, it is believed to have originated from a direct lightning strike, as severe storms were present in the area,” the Town of Duck said in a news release.
Both occupants of the house safely evacuated along with their two dogs.
The last fatal fire in Kill Devil Hills happened in May 2020, when a local woman and her 9-year-old son were killed in an apartment building fire started by an unattended charcoal grill.
