South Carolina Crews Battle Motel Fire

Shortly after 1 p.m. on Feb. 3, 2008, Santee, S.C. firefighters were dispatched to the Days Inn on Old Highway 6 near I-95 for a reported working fire. The first in units found a heavily involved motel that was under renovation. Smoke and fire were through the roof and over fifty motel units had heavy smoke showing.

Within the next half hour, 16 additional fire departments were called in from Orangeburg County. Firefighters were hampered by the lack of water and were able to use a couple of nearby fire hydrants but additional tanker companies were dispatched to draft water from portable drafting tanks.

It took almost 100 firefighters five hours to bring the blaze under control.

About fifty units were heavily damaged or destroyed and another fifty received smoke and water damage. It was reported that workers accidentally started the fire and attempted to extinguish the fire.

By the time that the Santee firefighters arrived, the blaze had spread to many units on both side of the building. It was reported that the blaze would exceed one million dollars in damages