COLLEGEDALE, Tenn. (AP) -- A pre-dawn dormitory fire at Southern Adventist University killed one student, a Hamilton County emergency official said Tuesday.
Firefighters responding to a 3:52 a.m. call at Thatcher Hall arrived to flames coming from the roof of a three-story women's dorm, said Lt. Jerry McDonald of the Hamilton County Emergency Medical Services.
The victim's name was not immediately available. Officials said she was an 18-year-old woman from Chicago.
Tri-Commmunity Volunteer Fire Chief Dewayne Pitts said the most damage appeared to be around a third-floor laundry and lobby in the brick building in Collegedale, a Chattanooga suburb.
Thatcher said the cause of the fire was not immediately known and an investigation was continuing.
A report posted on the university's Web site said two other students were taken to a hospital and that all residents of Thatcher Hall had been evacuated and were in a safe location on the campus.
McDonald said those two students were leaning from a window to avoid smoke in a third-story room and firefighters used ladders to get them outside. He said their injuries were not life threatening.
The 2,400-student university is affiliated with the Silver Spring, Md.-based Seventh Day Adventist Church.
''This is affecting us very deeply here at the university,'' university President Gordon Bietz said in a statement. ''Please pray for the students and the staff as we struggle to deal with this tragedy.''
The fire death was the second tragedy in a little more than five months at the religious college. In December, a plane crash in Collegedale killed the pilot and four Georgia leaders of the Seventh Day Adventist Church who had been at the university for a meeting.
