01/31/2011 – “C” Shift – Structure Fire

Incident # 11-0606 - An early morning house fire has left a Walterboro family displaced. The fire was reported at 03:53 at 101 Edgewood Street east of Walterboro. Engine 19 arrived to find the singlewide mobile home 75% involved. Three people inside the home narrowly escaped. There were no working smoke alarms in the building. A 14 year old girl was awaked by intense heat to discover her bedroom was on fire. She was able exit unharmed and alerted two adult males in the residence. They too were able to escape. Both men attempted to fight the fire with garden hoses to no avail. One man received deep lacerations to his arm during the attempts to save the residence. He was treated at the scene by Firefighter-Paramedics  and transported to Colleton Medical Center. Crews deployed two 1-3/4 handlines to combat the fire. One crew entered the structure through a sliding glass door on the front porch. They made a quick knock down, saving the master bedroom at the opposite end of the mobile home. The structure suffered extensive damage. Many personal items in the master bedroom were salvageable. Water supply was handled with Tenders. Units were on the scene for 2 hours. The fire started in the small bedroom due to an electrical short in an outlet. It spread up the wall to engulf the bedroom, then spread through the remainder of the mobile home. The Charleston Chapter of the American Red Cross is assisting the family.

Engine 19, Engine 26, Tender 1, Tender 12, Tender 19, Tender 26, Medic 1, Medic 19, Medic 26, Battalion 1 and Car 12 responded. Battalion Chief Dan Barb served as Incident Commander.