01/08/11 & 01/09/11 – “B” and “C” shifts – Woods Fires

Multiple woods fires kept firefighters busy for the second weekend in a row, fueled by dry conditions and high winds. Despite two days of rain last week, dry conditions persist. 20 to 30 mph winds quickly spread flames through the dry grass and woods. The largest fires occurred Saturday in the Ritter Community and Sunday on Keegan Road. Burning ashes from a burn barrel at a residence on Boxwood Lane near Ritter ignited the grass, then quickly spread to adjoining yards and a field. Neighbors with buckets of water and garden hoses assisted firefighters in protecting their homes. The flames burned approximately five acres, damaging two mobile homes before firefighters and Forestry units were able to contain the blaze. Units were on the scene for over two hours. Sunday was no different with multiple small fires and two larger woods fires on Redbird Lane and Keegan Drive. Engine 26 arrived on Redbird Lane to find a field and several yard fires endangering five homes. Residents were fighting the fires and continued to help firefighters until the blaze was extinguished. One homeowner was transported to the hospital by Medic 26 due to medical complications aggravated by fighting the fire. Once the fire was out, the fire apparatus was reassigned to a large fire on Keegan Road.

The Keegan Road fire also spread from a burn barrel behind a mobile home, igniting approximately six acres. The fire spread to several bales of rolled hay, jumping from bale to bale burning eight of them until firefighters rolled several bales out of the path of the flames to save the remaining ten bales. The fire burned a wooden fence line and endangered several chicken houses containing over 3000 chickens. Multiple fire units kept the flames from the chicken houses preventing any injuries to the chickens and sparing a pig containment nearby. No pigs were injured. Units were on the scene for approximately 2-1/2 hours. A woman was treated at the scene by Firefighter-Paramedics on Medic 19 for a minor burn received while she was fighting the fire. She denied transport to the hospital.

SC Forest Rangers cited both the Boxwood Ln and Keegan Rd residents for starting the fires.  

Incident # 11-00152 – 11:10, 8-January - Ritter Fire – Engine 1, Engine 6, Tender 1, Tender 6, Tender 12, Tender 22, Tender 25, Brush 2, Battalion 1 and Car 12 responded.  Battalion Chief Ben Heape served as Incident Commander.

Incident # 11 -00183 – 13:45, 9-January - Keegan Road Fire – Engine 5, Engine 19, Engine 26, Tender 5, Tender 19, Tender 26, Tender 27, Brush 8, Battalion 1 and Car 12 responded. Firefighter-Engineer Chuck Moyer served as Incident Commander for the first 5 minutes, then transferred to Battalion Chief Dan Barb.