“Flames through the roof” upon arrival of fire department in Bellemeade

Dixiana, SC (Paul Kirby) – One of the small homes in the Bellemeade subdivision was destroyed by fire Monday night. Bellemeade Subdivision is off Charleston Hwy. near the Hwy. 321 south split. The calls regarding the house being on fire came in just before 8:40 p.m. bringing crews of firetrucks and personnel to fight the blaze. Callers identified the home as being on Minolta Drive near Pentax. When the first truck from Gaston pulled up, the ranking firefighter reported that they had flames coming through the roof of the small brick home.

Lexington County’s 911 center had begun trying to pinpoint fire hydrants for the responding units before they arrived on scene. Although one was located within 600’ of the burning home, the battalion chief advised the dispatcher that the hydrants in that neighborhood were owned by a private water system and could not be relied on to provide a sustainable fire flow making them virtually useless for any firefighting. The firefighters would have to rely on additional tanker trucks to supply the water and each of these robs manpower from the fire attack as a firefighter is pressed into service as a driver for each truck.

The fire commander eventually requested a response from the sheriff’s department because the crowds that had gathered to watch while the home burned were beginning to getting rowdy and in the way of the efforts by the firefighters to put the house fire out. He had also requested the power company to deal with the service line to the home. The second battalion chief began to move equipment around in the rest of the South Region to cover empty fire stations that were committed to the fire.

The fire was marked under control in less than an hour, but the crews stayed on the scene for some time to make sure that it was completely out and under control. The cause of the fire and the number of people displaced haven’t been released by the fire service at this time.