00:39 Lightning Strike Fire at South Carolina State Park Fire that was probably caused by a lightning strike kills a variety of animals at a nature center in a South Carolina state park. Park workers and campers are shocked and saddened.

At a Glance Fish, turtles, alligators and snakes were killed in a fire at the nature center.

A fire was started, probably by lightning, early Wednesday morning at South Carolina's Huntington Beach State Park.

A fire that destroyed a nature center early Wednesday morning at South Carolina's Huntington Beach State Park may have been started by lightning, officials said.

The blaze consumed the three-story nature center, destroying it and killing numerous turtles, alligators, snakes and fish that were trapped inside , according to WMBF-TV. The fire was started at about 2:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday morning, the report added.

“Unfortunately, even before we arrived, there was no life sustainable inside the structure ,” Midway Fire Rescue Chief Doug Eggiman told South Strand News. “Even if it was, [the fire] was too fully involved for us to make any kind of entry. All our operations had been exterior.”

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As crews work to bring down the charred structure, attention turns to investigating the cause of the fire. Lightning was believed to be the culprit after a preliminary investigation, but officials told WMBF that they're not done looking into the events that led up to the fire. Thunderstorms were reported in the area around the time the fire started.

The north side of the park was closed indefinitely because of the fire, South Strand News also reported. Park employees – especially those who worked with the animals – were distraught when they learned about the animals that were lost in the fire.

"There's history, unbelievable history, inside that center, and it's gone for good now ," Judy Blanchfield, who witnessed the fire, told WBTW.com. "It’s just so sad."

Nobody was inside the nature center at the time of the fire, and no firefighters were injured during the hours-long battle, according to the State.