Stations 1, 6, 8, 25 and 27 responded to a structure fire at 6539 Combahee Road at Cherokee Plantation Sunday morning 4-April at 0939. Engine 8 arrived to find a 300 x 30 foot building with fire coming from the roof approximately 50 feet from the north end of the building. A portion of the roof had already collapsed. Two 1-3/4 handlines were deployed to the “A” side of the building. Engine 1 was directed to the “C” side and deployed one handline and used the deck gun at one point. The building had originally been used as a hog house when the Plantation raised hogs. It was one of a dozen such buildings clustered together on the property. The building had vented raised concrete floors and insulated sheet metal covered ceilings and roof. It appears the origin of the fire was electrical, which ignited the thick blown insulation above the ceiling. The fire spread along the ceiling/wall joists and in the insulation. It appeared to have been burning for quite some time before anyone found the building burning. The damaged walls caused the roof supports to fail bringing down the roof prior to the arrival of fire units.

Firefighters used several handlines to bring the fire under control, then spent a hour pulling tin out of the building to reach the smoldering fires inside the  collapsed structure. The building was currently being used to split and storage fire wood and contained a heavy fire load of fire place wood and logs. The open air vented flooring provided plenty of ventilation for the flames beneath the collapsed roof. Eventually a track hoe was brought in to remove the roof to allow firefighters to completely extinguish the fire. Units were on the scene for three hours. Water supply was provided by Tenders.

Engine 1, Engine 6, Engine 8, Tender 1, Tender 6, Tender 8, Tender 25, Tender 27, Medic 6 and  Battalion 1 responded. Battalion Chief Richard Sheffield served as Incident Commander.