Man dies in blaze

SWOOPE — A fire killed a man early Friday inside a wooden building at a Boy Scouts campground where almost 200 young scouts and their chaperones were spending the night.

The blaze broke out in the trading post at Camp Shenandoah just after 4 a.m. The victim was a camp staff worker living in quarters inside the building. Authorities declined to identify him. No one else was hurt.

Virginia State Police special agents have not determined the fire’s cause.

“All the Boy Scouts on the property are accounted for,” said state police Sgt. F.L. Tyler.

Traversing narrow and hilly rural roads, the first fire crew arrived at the camp in 15 minutes, finding the building engulfed in flames, said Augusta County Fire Chief Carson Holloway.

“They tried to make entry, but the fire was too intense,” Holloway said. “Sometimes you just run into a no-win situation.”

About 40 firefighters worked 30 minutes to control the fire, which left the structure charred and its façade collapsed amid shards of wall left standing.

More than 100 fourth- and fifth-graders, known as Webelos, had been staying at the camp this week with 78 adult chaperones. The campers, from 13 counties, left as investigators worked at the scene.

A chaperone told NBC29 that campers were awakened by a fire bell at 4:20 a.m. and were advised to stay at their campsites instead of gathering near the mess hall — about 30 feet from the trading post — where they would normally go during a fire.

“Our camp staff ... they remained calm,” said Stonewall Jackson Area Council Scout Executive Don Ellis.

“This Boy Scout Council is totally focused on the well-being of all campers ... and give our total condolences to the family,” he said. “My concern is with them.”

No scouts have requested counseling, Ellis said.