The house of five members of Eastern’s cross country team caught fire Wednesday afternoon, causing severe damage and leaving the runners without a home.

The cause of the fire at 1515 Third St. remains unknown, and some speculate a complete loss.

The “Arby’s house,” where Kevin Atkins, Aaron Grobengieser, Dan Strackeljahn, Nathan Pepper and Eric Buhot live, went up in flames minutes after the teammates left for practice.

“We were stretching at the pavilion when one of the girls came over and told us,” Pepper, a junior, said. “Nobody believed it was true, but coach saw the smoke so we sprinted over here.”

Firefighters responded to the 9-1-1 call from a neighbor at 3:15 p.m. with four fire trucks and three ambulances.

A thick cloud of black smoke billowed from the well known track house out onto Lincoln Avenue, where Charleston police officers directed traffic.

For more news and photos on this story see Thursday’s edition of The Daily Eastern News and at The Daily Eastern News Online