The fatal fire at a North Carolina beach house Sunday appears to fit a tragic pattern that has claimed the lives of college students across the nation.

In a study published last year, USA TODAY identified a pattern of risk that leaves college students vulnerable to the dangers of fire.

"This is the same scenario we are seeing time and again," says Ed Comeau, ex-chief fire investigator for the National Fire Protection Association and publisher of the online newsletter Campus Firewatch. "It drives home the importance of fire safety no matter where you are."

Though the cause of Sunday's fire is not yet known, it broke out in the early morning after a fraternity-sorority gathering at the Ocean Isle Beach house. The victims were from South Carolina schools; six attended the University of South Carolina (USC) and one was a Clemson University student.

Off-campus parties have preceded many of the fires that have killed U.S. college students since 2000, according to the USA TODAY report, which based its findings on public documents and autopsy reports.

In 60% of the fatal fires, at least one person had been drinking. More than 40% of the fires were reported between the hours of 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. And 56% of them were on the weekend.

No college student has ever died in a fire where there was a working sprinkler system, the newspaper found in its study. Early reports indicate that the beach house had working smoke detectors but lacked a sprinkler system. That it was built on stilts, which allowed air to fuel the flames and caught fire after a stretch of dry weather, was a "a sad series of coincidences," says Dennis Pruitt, USC vice president of student affairs.

Comeau says the fire highlights the need for Greek (fraternity and sorority) leaders nationwide to work on fire-safety education and improvements.

In Columbia, home of the University of Missouri, Greek protests halted a recent measure aimed at improving fire safety.

The city's fire department pushed to require sprinklers in fraternity and sorority houses after a fatal fire on May 8, 1999. But a city commission last week repealed a provision that would have required the installation of sprinkler systems in Greek houses by 2013. Columbia fire marshal Steve Sapp says complaints included one from the sorority Delta Delta Delta about the anticipated $300,000 expense.