LEXINGTON, Va. -- WSLS obtained unique video of the fire from a firefighters' perspective.
Using a helmet camera, Assistant Fire Chief Jimmy Swink is able to show other firefighters, as well as the public, what firefighters see and go through when they try to put out a fire, or rescue someone from the flames.
Sink tells us firefighters from four departments worked to control the flames, as they spread from the front porch to the third floor.
Students say a fire started outside of the Pi Kappa Phi house on Washington Street at Washington and Lee University around 4:30 a.m. Thursday and then moved inside.
One of the 15 people evacuated has been treated and released from the hospital.
The University is providing another place on campus for those students to stay.
As members of the fraternity looked at what was left of their house, Matthew Victor told us he remembers hearing the house mother who lives with Pi Kappa Phi "screaming at the top of her lungs" to get out.
We met Tom Carpenter standing in the clothes he rushed to put on. Carpenter says he then tried to get everybody out of the house quickly, because there's only one staircase.
Firefighters say some members of the fraternity were still asleep in the back bedrooms. It took firefighters 20 minutes to give the "all-clear" signal.
Fraternity members are staying resolute, saying "We just got to start rebuilding. Get our stuff out and go from there."
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The fire department tells us the fire alarm and sprinkler system worked.
Students tell our crew on the scene, that the fraternity ironically, held a fire drill at the house on Wednesday, the day before.
Republished with permission of WSLS-TV.
