Oak Grove, SC (Paul Kirby) – A fire that went to a second alarm Tuesday morning destroyed a home in the 200 blk. of Wallace Circle off Wallace Way. This is between Mineral Springs and Leaphart Roads in a region of Lexington County that’s been busy as of late. Sunday, another second alarm house fire burned a home on Cedar Vale Drive just a few miles from this fire. Tuesday, the first calls to the county’s 911 center came in about 4:00 a.m.
The first Lexington County fire equipment on scene pulled up to find a home that had heavy flames showing from its rear and roof. Firefighters went to work pouring water on from the exterior as Ladder 30, the ladder truck from Corley Mill station, was raised and began streaming water from its tip high above the home. The first due battalion chief quickly transmitted a second alarm for manpower as the outside temperature was still 70 degrees at time of dispatch. This was without the added heat of the burning home. Second alarms bring a pre-determined amount of equipment, but especially that equipment’s manpower to the scene.
At one point, teams tried to enter the house to fight the fire, but the heat and volume of flames caused the safety officer and battalion chief to order them out. The firefighters established a connection to a fire hydrant and began pouring water from the nozzle of the ladder truck again. At 4:43 a.m. the call was made to stop the ladder’s water and have teams return to the interior of the home to take the fight to the base of the fire.
The duty chief was notified as both battalion chiefs committed, and he moved equipment to the emptied fire stations for standby. The Irmo Fire District helped by moving one of their engines and crew across the dam to the Lexington station off Park Road. All this moving of resources ensures the portion of the county whose trucks and manpower are committed at the fire still have protection.
This was the second working fire in the early morning hours of Tuesday. Another house fire around 1:20 a.m. was closer to Gaston. That fire was less intense, but still required extensive work to locate the flames in the home, extinguish them, and clear the smoke from its interior.
Dominion Energy was requested and responded to Wallace Circle to disconnect utilities to the home. The American Red Cross is in the process of gathering information so that they can help the displaced residents.
The fire was called under control at 5:25 a.m. and most trucks were packing up and leaving with their crew by 5:50 a.m. We will continue to update this story as more information comes in.
the day.
