Oak Grove, SC (Paul Kirby) – Crews from the Lexington County Fire Service were battling a fire at Palmano’s Pizzeria at 4350 August Road early Friday morning. This is at the intersection of Oakwood and Augusta Road not far from the Barnyard Flea Market. The call regarding the fire came in around just before 4:20 a.m.
The caller that dialed 911 reported smoke coming from vents in the roof of the building. Firefighters from the county’s Oak Grove fire station arrived quickly and confirmed there was heavy smoke, but no visible fire when they arrived. As more manpower and equipment got there, crews teamed up and entered. Eventually, they found fire in a wall that eventually burned through the exterior stucco. The truck out of Pine Grove hooked a nearby fire hydrant supplying the crews the water required to fight the fire. Crews for Lexington County EMS were there assisting with rehab and monitoring the firefighters’ health. Dominion Energy had teams enroute to cut the power and the gas to the building.
The ladder truck out of Corley Mill was raised to the roof as firefighters on the interior began pulling the walls to expose the fire. Eventually, that team would open the roof to allow smoke and hot gasses to escape. Both county on-duty battalion chiefs were there in different capacities in the command structure. Lexington County Fire Chief Mark Davis also responded to offer support but did not seem to intervene and appeared to be there to observe and assist if asked.
Just after 5:10 a.m. the incident commander reported the fire under control. Teams were pulling more of the interior walls and monitoring air quality to decide when crews could safely breath room air. They dropped their breathing apparatus around 5:15 a.m. when monitors showed the atmosphere inside was back to normal. Although the building is damaged to the point that it will need to be closed for remodeling, the firefighters had a solid stop on the fire minimizing its impact to the business.
We will update this story later in the day as more information becomes available.
