Boom from fatal house fire wakes neighbors in private Beaufort County community
Charred wood smoldered from a nearby home Tuesday as neighbors gathered in shock, hours after 58-year-old Jeffrey Hile was found dead in the Lady’s Island house.
The fire in Pleasant Point Plantation is the first fatal fire the Lady’s Island-St. Helena Fire District has responded to in five years. The previous one was in October 2014.
Hile and his 23-year-old son were the only ones in the home on Pleasant Point Drive around midnight, when firefighters were called, Fire District spokesperson Scott Harris said. Hile was pronounced dead at the scene just after midnight, Beaufort County coroner Debbie Youmans said. Hile’s son escaped and was uninjured.
The home was aflame when officers arrived, a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office release says. Spokesperson Maj. Bob Bromage said the Sheriff’s Office is investigating the fire with the help of S.C. Law Enforcement Division.
Rick Stearns said he woke up to a loud boom. He ran to his window and saw Hile’s home in flames.
“The house was fully engulfed,” Stearns said. “I don’t know what caused it. It is alarming how quick something like this could happen.”
Within minutes, the Lady’s Island-St. Helena Fire District had arrived, he said, but flames continued to rise from the house for at least a couple of hours.
Stearns said Hile often waved and the two had neighborly chats occasionally, but he didn’t know him well.
Property records show Hile bought the home, built in 1982, for about $278,000 in 2017. The private residential community is located in northern Lady’s Island and borders the Beaufort River and Brickyard Creek.
An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, according to the coroner’s office.
First responders were at the scene through early afternoon.
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 12:01 PM.
