Lexington County, SC 12/02/2021 (Paul Kirby) – Two separate homes caught fire and burned in southern Lexington County Wednesday afternoon. One of the homes was in the Sandy Run or Horse’s Neck area and the second was northwest of Pelion close to the Fairview community.
The first fire was reported as a house fire off Culler Road near Calvary Church Road in the Horse’s Neck community. This fire was called in just before 2:30 p.m. The first county firefighters on scene came out of the Sandy Run Fire Station. When those Lexington County firefighters arrived, they found smoke and fire conditions in areas of the homes. They set up to make an attack on the fire as more resources rushed to assist them. This was labeled a working fire and a command system was established to supervise the fight and ensure the sfaty and wellfare of the crews.
It took some time for the teams to establish a reliable water supply because of the rural nature of the area and a lack of fire hydrants in the vicinity. Water tanker trucks were pressed into use to shuttle the supply needed to fight the fire, but this is labor, equipment, and driver intensive. One of the county’s battalion chiefs began to shift resources from the central part of the county towrd the south as equipment and manpower marked themselves on scene and joined the fight. This move was key to the fire service being prepared for the second fire near Fairview that would be reported about 1 hour later.
Once enough manpower and equipment were on the scene on Culler Road, crews were able to bring the fire under control rather quickly. It took them several additional hours to finish searching the home for any hidden fire, salvaging what they could, and picking up and cleaning up their equipment.
At approximately 3:30 p.m., the second fire, a mobile home, fire was reported burning in the 1400 block of Charlestown Road northwest of the Town of Pelion. This is a long, dusty, rough road that runs from Pine Street on the Pelion end out toward Fairview Crossroads and Leesville on the other. According to reports, the home was in fire located closer to the Convent Church Road end of the road.
When firefighters arrived on this scene, they reported they encountered a fully involved mobile home that was quickly being engulfed by flames. The first arriving equipment from Lexington County’s Fairview station began to muster the resources to fight the fire but once again, water was limited due to the rural nature of the area. Some firefighting resources were able to leave the Culler Road call and begin that way as additional trucks and manpower ran to the fire from some of the county’s more central and western fire stations.
The Town of Batesburg-Leesville Fire Department was requested to send a fire engine from its headquarters to the pond at Cedar Pond Campground near Fairview Road and Parrish Road. That fire engine was able to begin drawing water from the pond to fill the water tanker trucks from the blaze. This gave the commanders a reliable source of water they needed to refill their tanker trucks.
Firefighters poured water on this fire until they eventually brought it under control too. The home was a total loss. In this case, the American Red Cross was notified to assist the people who’d lost their home and possessions as a result of the fire.
Both of these fires were challenging because of the rural nature of the areas where they burned. The first fire was near the Calhoun County line and the second was adjacent to the Aiken County line. Although these rural areas are attractive to landowners for their quiet, peaceful nature, homeowners should remember that being fire safe is especially important. If a fire or medical emergency does occur, they need to have wide drives with a strong bases so that fire trucks and EMS crews can access the structures. In these portions of the county, the sandy soils can also be an issue if people do not provide adequate access for fire trucks and ambulances with maintained driveways. All homes, especially those with long drives in and out, should be well marked so that emergnecy responders can quickly locate them both in the day or night.
No estimate of the monetary loss of either of these homes has been given.
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