Crews used three 1-3/4 handlines, one 2-1/2 handline, a deck gun and the master stream from Ladder 19. Six 3000 gallon Tenders conducted a continuous water shuttle for 2-1/2 hours to meet the water supply needs of the operation refilling from a pressurized fire hydrant about ¼ of a mile from the scene. Firefighters had the bulk of the fire knocked down within 1-1/2 hours , but were on the scene for 5 hours performing overhaul and investigating the cause.

Initial firefighting efforts were hampered by burglar bars on the windows and doors until crews used power saws to remove them. Fire Investigators determined thefire originated in the main electrical panel near the rear of the building and extended into the ceiling of the approximately 5600 sq ft block building. The main building served as a country store in this rural community. The store operated a filling station, a kitchen which served daily meals and a flea market.

The main building had an addition which served as a warehouse and storage area for the store and the flea market. Firefighters were able to stop the flames from completely destroying the attached warehouse, however that portion of the building suffered heat and smoke damage. Firefighters were also able to save some items from the flea market before being driven out by the fire. Thirty firefighters responded to the incident.

Sheriff’s Deputies detoured traffic on US Hwy 21 for several hours during the early morning fire. No injuries were reported.

Engine 7, Engine 18, Tender 3, Tender 4, Tender 7, Tender 18, Tender 23, Tender 26, Ladder 19, Medic 18, Medic 26, Squad 23, Battalion 1, Truck 12 and Car 17 responded. Battalion Chief Richard Sheffield served as Incident Commander.

Horry County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Matthew Montgomery said the fire broke out in the living room of the house, and firefighters are still investigating a cause of the blaze at 5056 Huckleberry Lane in the Horry County portion of Conway. Montgomery said the family was not home during the fire, but because of the total loss, they will likely be displaced. He said none of the 15 firefighters at the scene were injured while fighting the blaze.

The house is in an area of the county that is not outfitted with hydrants, but it wasn’t an issue in fighting the fire.

“We had plenty of water on the trucks that responded. The hydrants weren’t an issue in this fire. We were prepared,” he said.

Firefighters were still on scene about 10:45 a.m., waiting for an investigator and monitoring the fire for hot spots, he said.

“Everything is gone,” a teary Duncan said. “Everything.”

Dorchester Volunteer Fire Chief John Poole said the mobile home at 353 Limestone Road was engulfed when firefighters arrived about 9:45 a.m. He said the fire started somewhere in the kitchen and appears to be accidental. READ MORE

SLED agents launched the investigation more than a month ago after receiving a request from the state Attorney General’s Office, SLED public information officer Jennifer Timmons said. READ MORE

Major Daniel Simon says firefighters are battling a fire inside a man-made pit off of Red Hill Road about three miles south of I-20.

Simon says the fire has been burning since 3:00 p.m. Monday, but they have no idea what is causing the fire inside the pit.

They’re calling in the Department of Health and Environmental Control to do an air-quality study to determine if the fire is releasing any toxic fumes.

DHEC will then determine if the evacuation will be mandatory.

MORE – Fire at Midlands prompts voluntary evacuations

MORE – DHEC investigates fire at alleged illegal landfill

The Newberry Coroner’s Office has identified the man as Jerry Wilson of Newberry. He lived at the home.

Newberry Fire Chief Keith Minick says the fatal fire was on Hill Street around 1:15am Sunday. Minick adds that the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

This is the second fire fatality in Newberry for the month of November.

Anderson County firefighters found the man, whose identity was not available Monday, lying in the front yard of his neighbor’s property around 3 a.m. He had managed to escape when he discovered that his home was on fire, Anderson County Fire Chief Billy Gibson said. READ MORE

Deputy Chief Scotty Williams of the Rochester Fire Department today said two city fire companies remained at the plaza, 1731 N. Clinton Ave., and doused hot spots throughout the night.

The quick-moving fire that started in the paper goods section of a Family Dollar store turned into a four-alarm blaze yesterday that left neighborhood residents without a plaza that had a variety of affordable businesses.

The fire, which was labeled suspicious, laid waste to the bargain retailer, as well as other longtime businesses such as the Diamond Coin-Op Laundry, a Salvatore’s Pizzeria, Zafiros Barber Salon and Fireball Wireless.

Mayor Robert Duffy called the loss of the plaza “devastating,” saying that the plaza has been around for several decades and has always served that immediate community with a variety of businesses.

“It’s an economic pipeline for this area,” Duffy said.

The fire, which started around noon, burned for more than five hours. It was determined to be under control at 5:20 p.m. But Fire Chief John Caufield said firefighters expected to be on the scene throughout the night.

A team of investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was expected to arrive in Rochester this morning to assist in the investigation. As of 9 a.m., ATF investigators were not yet at the scene. Williams said they were expected to arrive sometime this morning.

“We have some questions about the cause of this fire and we need some of their expertise to help us do some of the analysis,” Caufield said.

He said ATF would provide assistance because of the magnitude of the fire and because of another small fire reported at a different Family Dollar store at 836 N. Goodman St. about 20 minutes earlier. There also was Family Dollar fire on Oct. 22 in Buffalo that caused $300,000 in damage. There are no established links among the fires so far.

For the past 10 years, the plaza has been owned by the Trovato family, which also owns Auto Finishers in the plaza.

The entire plaza contains 10 businesses with a total of about 36,000 square feet of space. The Trovato family said about 60 percent of the plaza was lost. About 80 people, including 30 at Auto Finishers, worked at stores in the plaza.

Group 14621 Executive Director Eugenio Cotto Jr. said the loss of the plaza would not only have an immediate impact for residents in that area, but it would also affect future projects to revitalize the 14621 neighborhood.

“It will have an impact in our redevelopment of that area,” Cotto said. He added that the plaza would probably be added to the list of areas the group will need to focus on. “It’s going to take a lot of bucks to fix it.”

Although part of the plaza remained behind police tape today, Kenisha June was able to enter her beauty salon this morning to survey the damage.

June, who owns Visions Beauty Salon with her husband Jerome, collected some equipment and supplies from the shop today. The salon, which opened in April and employs five stylists and a nail technician, is located near the north end of the strip plaza.

The shop sustained smoke damage and some water damage, she said. Floors and walls in the shop had also buckled, she said.

Although the salon was closed yesterday, June said she learned of the fire from customers and quickly headed to the scene. She watched the fire rip through the plaza yesterday and was at the scene for nearly nine hours.

June said she was told it could be three or four weeks until she could potentially reopen her salon, if at all.But June said, in the meantime, she will attempt to work out of friends’ salons.

Neighborhood resident Norman Bryant said the loss of the businesses at the plaza will create major inconvenience for people like him, who live nearby and don’t have cars.

“It already done tore us apart. For me and my fiancee, the Family Dollar was the joint,” said Bryant, 48, who lives at Keeler Park Apartments on Seneca Manor Drive, about five blocks from the plaza. “It really is going to affect us.”
Firefighters from Engine 16, the first company to arrive at the scene, were greeted by a cloud of smoke when they opened the door to the Family Dollar store, said Lt. Mark Pascuzi.

The crew put on gas masks and about noon went in to start attacking the fire from the inside.

“There was a large amount of fire in the middle of the building … flames were about 25 feet in the air,” Pascuzi said. But a few minutes into their interior attack, Pascuzi and the rest of the firefighters moved back to the front door because fire was spreading so quickly.

“I could hear the metal in the building rattling,” Pascuzi said. That’s when they called a second alarm and had to leave the building and work on the fire from the outside.

Within the next 20 minutes, the fire quickly escalated, leading Caufield to call a four-alarm fire. A total of 15 city fire companies and eight fire companies from outside the city responded to the massive blaze.

Caufield said the fire was “one of the most quick-moving” he has seen in the 24 years he has worked in the Fire Department.

The roof of the Family Dollar caved in about an hour into the fire and sometime after that the back wall of the store collapsed. Some of the roofs of the adjacent stores also fell through during the fire.

Two firefighters suffered minor injuries. One suffered exhaustion while cutting through a thick section of roof. Another firefighter cut a hand while opening a ventilation space on a glass block. Neither of the men were taken to a hospital.

Because of the other Family Dollar fire, investigators are looking into whether the two are related, said Lt. Willie Jackson.

“All (Family Dollar stores) were notified that there’s possibly a problem,” Jackson said.

Josh Braverman, a spokesman for the North Carolina-based Family Dollar company, said authorities told him the fire apparently started in the store’s paper goods aisle.

Braverman said the discount store’s employees would be able to keep working at one of the chain’s other local stores.

“And I’m sure the team will be instrumental in getting a new store up and running if and when we decide to do that,” he said.

There are 25 Family Dollar outlets in Monroe County. The retailer, with more than 6,000 neighborhood stores in the U.S, caters to low and middle-income shoppers.

Employees from the various shops in the plaza gathered behind the police line tape and comforted each other as they watched the smoke and flames take over their stores. Salvatore’s manager Ray Lore stood with his group of employees watching in awe. Lore said the pizza shop, which employs about 22 people, has been in that location since 1984.

“There’s never been anything like this,” he said. “It’s totaled.”

Lore said he didn’t know what would be next for the store. There are 16 other Salvatore’s Pizzerias in the Rochester area.

Joe Ignizio, 35, of Greece watched as his family’s Fireball Wireless store burned. He said he was working in his office in the back of the shop when he heard people rush outside and was surprised by how quickly the fire moved.
“A whole lot of people (in the plaza) are going to be out of work,” he said.

Caufield said Auto Finishers, which contained many flammable materials, was “our most hazardous piece of this.” Caufield said firefighters focused on cutting off that part of the plaza.

Roseann Trovato-Tran, a co-owner, said the front portion of Auto Finishers suffered mostly smoke and water damage, while the workshop area in the back was more heavily damaged. But the owners plan to resume operations at their Gates location at 15 Elmgrove Park. They also have two locations in Buffalo. Trovato-Tran’s father, Richard Trovato, who started Auto Finishers in 1969, was in Florida on Monday.

Employees removed all the combustible materials and placed them either in two 26-foot trucks or in the parking lot.

“We yelled over the intercom, “Everybody out, now. Drop what you’re doing and get out,” she said.

Nearby resident Fredrick Lebarnes watched the plaza burn from across the street, along with more than 100 spectators who were taking pictures.

Lebarnes, 42, said he did not believe it when he heard from a friend that the Family Dollar was burning.

“It’s right before Thanksgiving,” he said. “I never expected to see anything like this — it was like a fire wall inside.”

The town council unanimously voted Friday to turn the squad’s day-to-day operations and budget over to the town, according to a statement by Honea Path Mayor Earl Lollis Meyers.

On Monday, the Honea Path Rescue squad’s board of directors suspended its $25,000 per-month-contract with the county for 30 days because of an investigation into the squad’s spending habits.

The investigation was prompted by a complaint filed with the Honea Path Police Department on Nov. 2. The complaint alleged that a rescue squad credit card had been used to pay fees to several on-line dating sites.

Meyers said the squad’s board of directors had asked for the vote taken Friday. He did not say whether the change was permanent.

Ron Craft, a Honea Path resident for 46 years, called the situation “frustrating. It’s really disheartening because I’ve supported the squad financially, and there are some great workers and paramedics there who don’t deserve this,” he said . “A lot of us residents are concerned.”

Scott Stoller, director of Anderson County EMS, said neither Crawford’s resignation nor the change in management would affect the level of service.

“The town will be held to the same standard every other EMS service is held to,” he said. “The people will still have ambulances. There will be no decline in service and care.”

Stoller said how well the crews perform will continue to be the responsibility of Anderson County EMS.

He said both Belton and Iva EMS had offered to help answer calls.

“We owe Belton and Iva EMS a debt of thanks,” he said. “They stepped up because they didn’t want the people of Honea Path to skip a beat.”

by Rick Spruill of the Anderson Independent-Mail

Recommissioned firetruck honors firefighters ‘Past, Present & Future’

By Dave Munday of The Post and Courier

An old firetruck has come back to life with a new mission.

Engine 11, a 1961 Mack C-85 pumper, retired in 1991 after three decades of service in Charleston.

It was recommissioned Sunday afternoon — gleaming with fresh paint and fully reupholstered — not to fight fires directly but to support those who do.

This 1961 Mack, which served the Charleston Fire Department for 30 years, has been restored. Relatives of firefighters who died in the June 2007 Sofa Super Store blaze got a close look at the truck Sunday. Pictured are Mike Benke’s daughters Taylor Benke (from left) and Holly Gildea, his granddaughter Julieanne Gildea; and Mike French’s nephew Ethan Dangerfield and brother-in-law Emmett Dangerfield III.

Retired Charleston Fire Capt. Daniel Schulken looked over the old firetruck with mixed feelings. He drove it on many occasions and painted the gold lettering on the sides during the restoration.

“It’s hard to drive,” he said. “It’s a lot of memories, a lot of hard work.”

The truck doesn’t have power steering, and the turning radius is wide. Some men had to stand up and put their weight into it to turn the wheel going around corners, he said.

Schulken’s most memorable experience was taking the truck to a house fire on Anita Drive in West Ashley in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The house was blown off its foundation when a painter opened a door and lit a cigarette. Schulken was hit in the face with a live power line. He suffered burns, but his thick-soled boots saved him.

The gold lettering says “A tribute to our firefighters, Past, Present & Future.”

The restoration effort was accomplished entirely with volunteer labor and donated money.

“Many individuals, groups, businesses and organizations contributed their time and money to bring the finished product to life as an enduring symbol of their support for our firefighters,” Charleston Fire Department Public Information Officer Mark Ruppel said before the ceremony. “No public funds were spent on this project.”

Several dozen firefighters, friends and families gathered outside the Charleston Firefighter Support Team offices in West Ashley on Sunday to mark the occasion. Many of those who attended were relatives of the nine firefighters who died in the Sofa Super Store fire on June 18, 2007.

Holly Gildea, fallen firefighter Mike Benke’s daughter, watched her 2-year-old daughter Julieanne climb on the truck.

“I just think it’s a great tribute to everybody,” she said.

The vision for the restoration came in December 2007, when the department was borrowing an old truck from the North Charleston and American LaFrance Fire Museum and Educational Center for the Christmas parade, support team leader Gerald Mishoe said. He heard that Stoney Blanton of Cottageville collected old firetrucks, visited him, and was delighted to see Engine 11 at the Maple Cane fire station near Givhans. They agreed on a price, and Mishoe started rounding up help for the restoration.

The president of Mack Trucks heard about the project and sent the famous bulldog icon to go on the dashboard, Mishoe said.

The firetruck will be kept at the station on Ashley Hall Plantation Road, and people can drop by to see it there, Mishoe said.

** Photos by Captain Paul Bryant, North Charleston Fire Department **