None — Clearwater Cove Marina was icy cold and quiet Thursday morning. The marina and boat landing there overlook a beautiful and tranquil Lake Wateree in Kershaw County, S.C.
Just behind a marina convenience store, fire investigators found the bodies of 57-year-old Tommy Phillips and his wife, 56-year-old Lib Phillips.
Their home burned to the ground just before midnight Wednesday. Campers across the lake saw the towering flames and called 911.
The couple ran the marina on Baron-DeKalb Road a few miles north of Camden for as long as most people can remember. They held large fishing tournaments each year, even hosting one for more than a hundred children. The fishing gear was free, and everyone got a prize.
"They were the most wonderful people I've ever met," said Donald Hinson, who often fished tournaments at Lake Wateree. "Lib would be out there at four in the morning cooking. Cold in the winter, hot in the summer, it just didn't matter."
Family members and close friends embraced each other and cried outside the smoldering ruins of the house. They did not want to talk with reporters.
Sheriff Steve McCaskill also knew the Phillips family well.
"The community is still in shock. Our heart really goes out to the family," McCaskill said. "This is really just a terrible tragedy for everybody."
Kershaw County Coroner Johnny Fellers told Eyewitness News that the couple died from smoke and fume inhalation. Sheriff's deputies and agents with the state law enforcement division were on scene, but McCaskill said that's standard procedure for a deadly fire, and there was no evidence of foul play.
The house that the couple lived in was very old, and was raised up on stilts in case the area ever flooded. That also made the house more vulnerable to fire, McCaskill said.
"Usually you only have fire going over top of a house, but it would've gone under it too," he said. "With that wind blowing across the lake last night, it would've really turned it into a furnace."
The fire also destroyed a large shop building the sat in front of the house. Investigators are not saying how the fire started, or where. The damage is so severe that they may not be able to determine a cause.
For the many people who knew them well, Tommy and Lib Phillips were an institution, and the lake has now changed forever.
"It'll never be the same going up there again without them there," Hinson said.
WSOC
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