Three-Alarm Fire at South Carolina Structure

Colleton County, South Carolina Fire-Rescue responded to a well involved commercial structure fire at 11107 Cottageville Hwy. (US Hwy 17-A) in the Town of Cottageville at 4:53 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 30.

Operators received several calls from people passing by on Cottageville Hwy. (US Hwy. 17-A) reporting black smoke coming from the building. Fire-Rescue units arrived six minutes later to find heavy smoke conditions in the 50 by 120 foot metal building used as a small strip mall. Three businesses occupied the four store fronts; Simply Southern Hair, Nails and Tanning (Hair Salon), Backstreet Choppers (Motorcycle Repair Shop)(occupied two store fronts in the center of the building) and ABC Package Store (Liquor Store). Firefighters encountered heavy fire conditions in the hair salon and used one 1-3/4 and one 2-1/2 hand line to combat the fire. A second crew used one 1-3/4 line inside the motorcycle shop garage area. A fire wall between the hair salon and the motorcycle repair shop was just beginning to breach when firefighters made entry into the building. The hair salon suffered extensive damage, while the motorcycle shop's garage area suffered slight fire, moderate heat and heavy smoke damage. The office area and supply room suffered slight heat damage and smoke damage, while the liquor store suffered only smoke damage. A bystander reported seeing what may have been smoke up to an hour earlier, but he thought it was dust from the dirt parking lot and did not notify anyone, so the fire may have been burning for over an hour before it was reported. A tanker shuttle was established for water supply. Traffic on Cottageville Hwy was closed for one hour. The fire went to three alarms for tankers and manpower. Seven County Fire Stations responded with 4 Engines, 7 Tankers, 1 Ladder Truck, 2 Ambulances and 2 Squads. 44 firefighters responded and worked for nearly 45 minutes to extinguish the fire. Some units were on scene until 11:00. The effort saved two businesses, their inventory and customers motorcycles. The Hair Salon was a total loss. The fire appears to have originated in the area of a washer and dryer in the hair salon. Engine 902, Engine 1901 operated at the scene. Engine 201 performed water supply from a large pond approximately 1 mile from the scene. Tanker 903, Tanker 103, Tanker 204, Tanker 502, Tanker 1904, Tanker 2402, Tanker 1102, Ladder 1907, Squad 904, Squad 2603, Battalion 1, and two Chiefs responded. Battalion Chief Rich Ellis served as Incident Commander.

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