Red Banks, SC 02/13/2023 (Paul Kirby) – Firefighters from the Lexington County Fire Service responded to a report of a house fire in the 100 block of Rawl Street off South Lake Drive in the Red Bank community around 2 a.m. on Monday, February 13. When the first fire truck and its team arrived, they reported that they had an abandoned two-story residential structure that was well involved. Both flames and smoke were showing out of the windows, doors, and eaves throughout the home at that time.
As firefighters began to pull their hose lines off the trucks, it soon became apparent that it was unsafe to have teams enter the structure and fighting it with smaller handlines given the amount and intensity of fire they were dealing with. The teams were ordered back and began pouring water on the fire from the exterior using larger hoses with heavier streams of water.
Once a reliable water supply was established, the tower ladder truck out of Lexington was brought in and set up. All firefighters working in and close to the structure were pulled back and they tower team began pouring water down on the fire using a heavy stream from the aerial’s tip. This knocked the fire down and reduced the amount of fire to a safer size so that teams could enter and work from the interior of the structure. Firefighters, monitored closely by a safety officer, were allowed back inside, and started maneuvering with smaller lines to extinguish the blaze.
At the height of the fire, there were 9 total fire units manned by 24 fire crew members on scene. It took them several hours working together to bring this fire under control and put it out. No injuries were reported as a result of the blaze and its cause is under investigation.
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