Red Bank, SC (Paul Kirby) – At approximately 7:30 p.m. Thursday evening, calls began to come into the county’s 911 center reporting a mobile home on fire in the 100 block of Wilma Ann Dr. in Red Bank. The fire service was dispatched, as was a crew from Lexington County EMS.
Before the first fire units arrived, citizens reported that they thought that someone was trapped inside the burning single-wide mobile home. As dispatchers gained more information from the caller, they clarified that report by saying that the family’s pets were trapped, not the human occupants.
The county’s telecommunications operators also relayed to responding firefighters that callers were saying that a pressurized LP gas cylinder was in danger of being exposed to the fire. The citizens also believed that the home had these types of gas cylinders inside as well.
The first arriving units from the Red Bank fire station pulled up and reported that they had heavy smoke showing from the small home. As they prepared to attack the fire, the responding battalion chief instructed other trucks to lay supply hoses in from a fire hydrant at the intersection of Sandy Springs Lane and Platt Springs Road. This is approximately 1000 ft. from the fire.
County sheriff’s deputies were requested for traffic control as filling the fire supply hoses would block one lane of Platt Springs Road. Additional arriving equipment was used to complete the connection from the hydrant and those units then pitched their manpower into the fight.
The fire was brought under control quickly; however, the home was virtually destroyed by the fire before the firefighters arrived. The cause of the fire and an estimated property loss have not been released by the fire service. They also have not said if any pets perished in the blaze.
