Cayce, SC (Paul Kirby) – A mobile home that was said to be used as an office has burned early Friday at American Scrap Metal & Iron just outside the City of Cayce. American Scrap is located at 2256 Charleston Highway at Memorial Drive which just inside Lexington County.
The fire was dispatched at approximately 3:20 a.m. Friday and trucks and personnel from the City of Cayce arrived quickly. When they saw the flames and smoke leaping from the office trailer, they designated this a working fire, established a water source, pulled their attack lines, and began gathering teams to fight fire. Within a few more moments, more manpower from Lexington County arrived and joined in the fight.
Charleston Highway (Hwy 321 S) was closed for several hours because firefighters had used a large diameter hose to hook to a fire hydrant for their water supply. These hoses are large enough that cars and trucks can't drive over them without damaging the vehicle or the hose. The fire hydrants are across the highway from the business so when large quantities of water are used and the hydrants come into play, the highway must be shut down.
Fires at American Scrap are nothing new to the firefighters of the area. At least several times a year, multiple departments respond to the facility that buys used cars and other scrap metal for recycling. Often, large piles of old vehicles catch fire putting up heavy columns of black smoke that can be seen for miles. Some of the fires can be small and take less that an hour to extinguish. At other times, firefighters have been there for hours working to pour water from tower trucks that blast water down from high above the blazes. These larger fires often require trucks and personnel from Lexington County, the City of West Columbia, and Cayce to extinguish them.
A Lexington County EMS crew was on standby during the fire to help keep the personnel safe. Cayce Public Safety Officers were also on scene although some of them were released after the county’s crews arrived. Those officers were sent back to man Cayce’s firehouse in case of another emergency. Others were able to return to their normal patrol duties. Dominion Energy was notified and asked to come disconnect the electrical service that had burned in half and fallen on the ground.
At this point, the cause of the fire hasn’t been determined. As of 4:15 a.m. a representative of the company that owned and operated American Scrap hadn’t been reached to advise them of the fire.
