Lexington County, SC 11/25, 2021 (Paul Kirby) – Two separate Lexington County families were displaced by fires on Thanksgiving Day. The first fire was in the Red Bank community of central Lexington County. The second fire occurred approximately 1 hour later between the communities of Batesburg-Leesville and Fairview Crossroads in the southwestern portion of the county.
The first fire was reported around 12:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon off Rabon Road near its intersection with Cannon Trail just west of White Knoll High School. Firefighters and EMS personnel rushed to the scene from across the central portion of the county to fight the blaze. When firefighters arrived, they found a single-family home with smoke coming from it. It was then classified as a working fire.
The first arriving crews geared up and made an aggressive interior attack. As other teams arrived, a water source was established, the home’s utilities were cut, and other firefighters began the task of ventilating the structure. As the fire was brought under control, another team was assigned to cover what was salvageable in the home with tarps while still more personnel went into an overhaul phase pulling ceilings and walls to check for fire extension. By the time the fire was marked under control, the home was damaged to the point that the occupants could not continue to live there.
A battalion chief at this fire asked his Communications Center to notify the American Red Cross of the loss so that they could assist two adults who had been displaced by the fire. As firefighters were still in the cleanup phase of this fire, the second fire was dispatched.
That fire was reported to be on Decie Road off Marcellus Road in the Steadman and Fairview area. It came in a approximately 1:30 p.m.
The first arriving firefighters on this scene reported that they encountered a single-wide mobile home that was approximately 50 % involved when they pulled up. They began to attack the fire from the outside as additional water tanker trucks were requested to respond due to a lack of fire hydrants in the area.
Crews continued to pour water on the burning home as more personnel arrived on the scene. Eventually the flames were knocked down and the teams began the more arduous task of digging through the remains and ensuring that all the fire and hot spots were extinguished.
This home was destroyed by the fire. In total, three adults and six children were displaced because of this blaze. Once again, the American Red Cross was notified and asked to help the occupants who had suffered the loss.
Lexington County has not yet released the cause of these fires. They also have not reported any injuries to their personnel or others who were at the fires at the time of the incidents.
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