Animals killed, building total loss in Huntington Beach State Park Nature Center fire

An early morning blaze at a Huntington Beach State Park nature center caused the death of animals inside and destroyed the property, authorities said.

Midway Fire Rescue crews were called out about 2:34 a.m. Wednesday and found the three-story building engulfed in flames at Huntington Beach State Park at 16148 Ocean Highway, according to Chief Doug Eggiman with Midway Fire Rescue.

Fire crews were still on scene investigating and battling hot spots hours after the blaze, authorities said.

Several animals, including snakes and small alligators, were inside the center during the big blaze, and Eggiman said there was no way they could have survived the fire.

Mutual aid was called in from Georgetown County Fire and Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire Department, Eggiman said, as crews worked for hours battling the fire.

No firefighters had suffered any injuries while on scene hours after the damaging blaze, Eggiman said.

Georgetown County Emergency Management officials were on scene along with Huntington Beach State Park staff. S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control was called to assess conditions of a nearby creek to determine if it was impacted by runoff from the fire, authorities said.

Eggiman said the general consensus is that the creek was not affected by runoff because so much water was used in battling the blaze that any runoff was heavily diluted.

More information will be released as soon as it is provided. Please check back for story updates.

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 10:12 AM.