Fire at American Inns and Suites destroys a portion of the building Wednesday night

West Columbia, SC (Paul Kirby) – A fire heavily damaged a part of the American Inns and Suites at 112 McSwain Drive in West Columbia Wednesday evening. This is on the frontage road to I-26 just off Sunset Blvd. The call, which was reported around 6:00 p.m., brought firefighters from across the area to fight the blaze in rapidly dropping temperatures.

West Columbia Fire Department was the first to respond. They were assisted under the auto aid agreements by Engine One out of the city of Columbia, several units from the Lexington County Fire Service, and Cayce. Fire commanders said that they believe that the fire may have begun in the laundry area of the building before spreading. They will have to do a cause and origin investigation to confirm the exact cause of the fire.

Collectively, the fire crews brought the blaze under control relatively quickly.

This is the second working structure fire in the city on this week. The WCFD responded to a house fire on Fontanna this week that heavily damaged that home.