Firefighters take a break after combating an early morning blaze on Princeton Ave. in which one student died and another was critically injured

One student is dead and another critically injured after an early morning fire that gutted a rental home on Princeton Avenue where seven male students lived.

More than 60 firefighters responded at 4:30 a.m. to the house where a birthday party was hosted Friday night, said Prince George’s County Fire Department Spokesman Mark Brady. The cause of the fire will likely not be determined until early next week, he said.

Stephen “Tex” Aarons, 21, leapt from a second story window to escape the blaze and landed on a car parked below. He is being treated for smoke inhalation, burns and other injuries at Washington Hospital Center’s intensive care unit.

Thirty percent of his body is covered with burns, University President Dan Mote said during a presentation at Maryland Day, though it was reported late Saturday afternoon that he improved throughout the day.

Aarons told firefighters he was the only person left in the house, said Frederick H. Welsh, chief of the College Park Fire Department. But officials later found Michael Anthony Scrocca, 22, unconscious and not breathing in a second floor rear bedroom. He died shortly after paramedics transported him to Prince George’s Hospital Center.

Four other students who lived in the house were taken to the University Police station to give statements for the fire investigation and for shelter. They were unharmed. One other student was out of town.

The front of the home was charred, the inside gutted and the yard littered with burnt material, a melted trash can and red plastic cups Saturday morning as friends and neighbors trickled into a nearby church parking lot to find out what happened. There was a keg in the backyard and three others on the back porch as well as several cases of malt liquor and an ice luge.

Neighbors said that the house party was notably smaller than gatherings normally held at the home, and many awakened to the firecracker-like sound of the flames hitting nearby electrical and telephone wires and engulfing the house.

Daniel Hoult, a graduate student, was staying the night with friends next door to the house where the fire broke out.

“I thought someone was setting off firecrackers,” he said. “People were shouting and screaming. At first I thought they were from the party having a good time. Then I went to look for myself and the entire house was engulfed.”

The fire put a damper over Maryland Day Festivities — the second time in three years the annual event has been marked by tragedy. In 2003, university student Elizabeth Meejung Lee was shot by her ex-boyfriend who then shot himself in the Comcast Center parking garage the day before Maryland Day.

Mote kept his busy schedule of appearances, being shuttled on the “Mote Mobile” from exhibit to exhibit across the campus. He said the investigation was in the hands of Prince George’s County Police and Fire Rescue but university officials will follow up as they get details.

Shortly after noon, he addressed administrators, staff and Maryland Day sponsors in the Maryland Room of Marie Mount Hall. He started with his traditional Maryland Day touting of the university’s rankings and scholarship programs, but soon turned solemn, informing the guests of the fire.

“You just kind of have to go forward to fulfill Maryland Day but strongly satisfy the reaching the needs of the family and friends of those involved,” he said. “Unfortunately when you have a community of 52,000 people, events like this can happen.”

He said canceling Maryland Day was considered, but after meeting with an incident response team decided it would be “rather difficult to do.” He said administrators chose to handle both the tragedy and Maryland Day responsibilities simultaneously, and he didn’t want people to be surprised with the news after leaving College Park.

For more images of the scene, click here

Senior staff writers Scott Dance and Justin Fenton contributed to this report.

Check www.diamondbackonline.com for more updates later this weekend.