CHATOM, Ala. (AP) -- A fire burned down a hunting lodge the day after the start of Alabama's deer season, killing the head of a private school, his son and a teenager.
Edward Chesley Greene, 51, chairman of the board of UMS-Wright Preparatory School, his son Edward Jr., 24, and 15-year-old William Bradshaw Radcliff were killed in the early Sunday blaze at the Bullpen Hunting Club, said Andy Davis, spokesman for Washington County Infirmary.
About two dozen people were sleeping in the building when the fire erupted. Once outside, club members counted heads and realized three were missing, said Washington County Coroner Leon Harris.
Harris said he arrived on the scene at 2:30 a.m., about a half hour after the fire broke out, and there was ``nothing but ashes on the ground.''
The blaze appeared to have started around the lodge's fireplace, where the hunters had been maintaining a fire for several days, he said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
``The fire blazed out of control pretty quickly and no one could get back in to try to rescue the victims,'' said the Rev. Bry Shields, the elder Greene's brother-in-law.
