10/October/2019 – Structure Fire – “A” Shift

Incident # 19-07108 – Risher’s Deer Processing Facility at 120 Yearling Lane south of Walterboro suffered moderate damage from a fire that destroyed a walk in freezer and portions of the roof Thursday afternoon 10-October. A 14:40, 9-1-1 received two reports of the fire, one from the occupants and one from a neighbor, reporting smoke in the building and coming from the roof. The occupants were able to safety exit the building. Fire-Rescue units arrived minutes later to find heavy smoke conditions from the one story commercial structure. The building, which was designed for processing deer, had been added on to several times over the years. Several walk-in freezers were arranged around the building, which were covered by a single roof and the coolers had been covered on the exterior by wooden siding to give a uniform appearance. Firefighters initially had trouble locating the fire, which appeared to have started above one of the interior coolers in the original portion of the structure. The fire burned under the original attic which had been covered by an entirely new roof at some point. Shortly after arrival, flames broke through the original roof and burned under the new roof before breaking through the ridge vents. Crews were able to cut access points in the roof and remove the ridge vents to knock down the fire. They were able to gain access to the new attic through a small approx. 18”x18” access door on the south side of the building which provided the ability to walk on the tops of the coolers and extinguish the remaining fire in the attic.