Brush fires burn large tracts in western Lexington County Sunday afternoon

Boiling Springs, SC (Paul Kirby) – Several large brush fires burned significant acreage Sunday afternoon after cool weather moved through over the past days bringing with it low humidity and stiff breezes. On Sunday afternoon, the NWS at Columbia Metropolitan Airport was reporting the humidity at a dangerously low 16%; low enough to allow even a few sparks or a discarded cigarette to start a fire. County firefighters enlisted the assistance of the SC Forestry Commission to help bring the blazes under control. Both of the fires were reported between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m.

One was in the 900 block of Marcellus Road near Sarah Ann Road close to Fairview. County fire crews arrived on that scene and reported that the fire was consuming the brush and grass. They requested the assistance of a forestry tractor which was eventually dispatched. More equipment and manpower from other county fire stations arrived and began to fight the portions of the fire they could access.

About the same time, a fire was reported near the intersection of Old Charleston and Calks Ferry Roads. This is a very short distance of the county’s Boiling Springs Fire Station and Keislers Crossroads. When the first units pulled up on that fire, they found a large area burning through the woods with the flames being pushed by the winds. They donned their special wild firefighting gear and began to attack the flames where they could access them. They also requested a tractor-plow unit from the SC Forestry Commission. Even as quickly as the first firefighters arrived on this fire, their first reports indicated they might have as much as five or more acres burning and some structures threatened.

Because both of these fires were reported as working fires, the fire service's two battalion chiefs responded to one each. The on-call duty officer was notified and he eventually responded to monitor the situation, move resources into areas committed, and assist in any other way he could. Eventually enough brush trucks, tankers, fire engines, and personnel arrived on the fire to begin containing the blaze. Once the plow from the Forestry Commission arrived, that unit’s operator was able to cut a break around the fire which stopped it from spreading. It was estimated that as much as 10 acres may have been burned before the fire was considered out.

The teams on the Marcellus fire were also making headway. They were hampered by the fact that their forestry tractor was from Aiken County and had an extended response time first reported as about 45 minutes. Eventually, they were able to slow the fire until the tractor arrived and fully contained it as well. Both fires took several hours to bring under control. The crews stayed for some time after that ensuring that the hotspots didn’t rekindle and the fire didn’t jump the break.

Neither the county or the SC Forestry Commission said what started the fires. There were several legal prescribed burns going on across the area over the weekend, but no one has given any indication that these were associated with those legal and managed fires. There were a number of instances over the weekend where fire personnel had to respond to illegal burns. In those cases, if it is a first offense, firefighters usually assist the property owner in extinguishing the fire and attempt to educate the person burning about the laws related to outdoor burning in Lexington County.