Firefighters battling apartment fire at Riverbend Apartments in West Columbia

West Columbia, SC 08/06/2021 (Paul Kirby) – Firefighters from the City of West Columbia, Lexington County, the Irmo Fire District, and the City of Cayce’s Department of Public Safety are actively fighting a fire at 100 Riverbend Drive in the West Columbia area of Lexington County. The request for help regarding the fire came into Lexington County’s 911 Center between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. on Friday morning.

A squad truck from the West Columbia Fire Department was the first to arrive on the scene. That crew reported they had an apartment unit with flames coming from it and classified the call as a working incident. They requested that the second truck from West Columbia stop at the closest fire hydrant and drop a supply line in to establish a fire flow for the fight.

As more teams arrived on scene, firefighters pulled their attack hoses and made an aggressive entry into the burning unit. When more crews arrived, they pulled additional lines and began checking for fire extension in the apartments surrounding the unit of origin.

Fire teams searched the apartment of origin and the surrounding units for anyone that may have been trapped by the fire. As of this writing, the fire commander had reported that all units on both the first and second floors had been searched and were cleared.

The firefighters made a quick knockdown of the fire and by 11:00 a.m., they were getting their equipment prepared to ventilate the building. At this point, it appears as if one apartment was destroyed, and several other surrounding units have been damaged by the fire. Dominion Energy was requested to disconnect the electrical service on multiple units.

This is a developing story. We will try and obtain more information as it becomes available.