Three Fountains, SC (Paul Kirby) – One large outbuilding was destroyed, the home in front of it was heavily damaged, and several surrounding homes received minor damage, following a fire Tuesday afternoon. The building and homes were located in the 4000 block of Florentine Road near the intersection of Platt Springs and Emanuel Church Roads.
Firefighters were dispatched to the call at approximately 1:30 p.m. The first arriving trucks found that the outbuilding was well involved in fire, and the fire had spread to the home in front of it as well. Several homes around the scene had also begun to receive damage from the heat of the fire.
The crews pulled their hoses and quickly made the fire attack. Hose lines were stretched to fire hydrants to establish a water supply for the fight.
The battalion chief arrived and assumed command of the fire operations. He quickly requested that the utility company respond to de-energize power lines that had burned in two and had fallen in the yard.
Senior fire officials began moving trucks and personnel around to fill in the empty stations whose resources were thrown into the fight. Equipment from Irmo was moved to Lexington, and a West Columbia ladder truck was moved out to the county’s Oak Grove station.
Public safety officers from Cayce responded to the scene to assist the personnel fighting the fire. Those officers were stationed in the neighborhood behind the burning buildings to prevent the fire from extending that way. A portion of Cayce extends out into that portion of the county following the city owned water-lines.
Streets were blocked by fire hoses in the area and law enforcement officers were on the scene preventing people from driving over them or getting in the way.
Eventually, the fire commander requested a tractor plow unit from the SC Forestry Commission respond to the scene. They are considering using the tractor to knock down some of the remains of the outbuilding that may still have fire hidden underneath it.
The firefighters are currently still on the scene although the fire was marked under control at 3:02 p.m
