White Knoll, SC (Paul Kirby) – On Sunday, October 20, Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher had to call on county first responders for assistance herself. She was at home trying to rest after a long night spent taking coroner calls when she was made aware that a dump truck at her family’s Red Bank farm was on fire. Before firefighters could arrive, the fire had spread to several other dump trucks too.
Both Coroner Fisher and her husband Clifford are servant leaders in the community. Prior to her election as Lexington County Coroner, Fisher had worked as a Richland County Sheriff’s deputy. Her husband is still a reserve deputy there. He works events like Carolina home football games on horseback. He is one of a few law enforcement officers in South Carolina who are certified to do police work from horseback. He can also teach other officers these skills. Clifford is an organizer of the Jesus is His Name Christmas play and does lots of other things to help the community when called upon.
Clifford owns Owens Fisher Construction Company. That company is headquartered on a portion of the farm off McLee Road in Red Bank. Because of that business, the Fishers have a great many tractors and other heavy equipment parked there on the farm over the weekends, often times in rows close together to maximize space. That’s why so many trucks were there all parked neatly in a line on a Sunday.
According to Coroner Fisher, the sad part of this story is that the fire did approximately $400,000 in damages to the trucks that were burned. Those trucks will have to be replaced. It’s her outlook on the fire, something people could easily lament as a tragedy, that really is the uplifting story here.
In a social media post Coroner Fisher made after the tragedy she said, “God is so good, and no one was hurt and no damage to surrounding structures!” She went on to say, “The best firefighters in the state showed up and took care of business.” No firefighters were injured fighting the blaze.
The Fishers are both known as people of faith. In this tragedy, Fisher says she still sees God’s plan in what happened Sunday. “As God directed, I was home because of being out last night (Sunday) on a call until 5 a.m. this morning so I missed church.” She said Clifford was at Mt. Horeb with a sheep, a part of their biblical animal ministry, so he missed it all. She said neighbors and friends came to help. “I felt so loved and cared for,” Fisher said. “Thank you to everyone who reached out to us with concern and love.”
Further along in her post, Fisher said, “Y’all, I cannot tell you what a horrible feeling it was to watch those trucks burn and know what it would mean to my hubby but what a beautiful sight it was to see those heroes called firefighters pull into our yard!!! Within minutes they arrived and wasted no time, and I mean no time fighting that huge fire. It was out in minutes. Can you imagine running toward a fire that big with explosions still erupting?? Well they did,” Fisher wrote on Facebook. “I know that in my profession I depend on them so very often on scenes, but I needed them on a whole new level today (Sunday) and as always, they did not disappoint me. HEROES!! The Lexington County Fire Service is awesome and not just because of what they did for my family today. They do it every day for every citizen in this county!”
Coroner Fisher concluded by saying that even after fighting that huge fire with 100 pounds of extra gear and being so tired, firefighters took the time to get the Fishers' grandkids fire hats! “I have prayed hard for all of our county firefighters today and you should thank God for them too,” she finished.
