Smoldering fire turns into inferno

HEMINGWAY - A fire that smoldered for 18 hours at a plastics warehouse finally weakened the steel structure. When it began to collapse the fire turned into a raging inferno. The fire, which started just after 10 p.m. Tuesday at the Tupperware plant smoldered within the steel building. Fire fighters had cut numerous holes in the metal skin and poured immense quantities of water on the fire, but were unable to quench the burning plastic.

The building began to buckle, then collapse in sections Wednesday evening, allowing the smoldering material exposure to the air, which caused it to burst into flame.

Immense quantities of black smoke billowed into the air.

In a short time the entire 400 x 400 foot building was completely collapsed.

Dusty Owens, communications officer for the night command team, said the current fire fighting was being done through a new form of organization called "Firefighter Mobilization. This is a systematic way to pull key resources from across the state, much more advanced than "Mutual Aid" which simply is nearby fire companies agreeing to help each other in time of need.

Owens is part of a newly trained team which has been organized by the State Fire Marshall and Emergency Management offices. There are four Regional Incident Management Teams, each with 28 people. When there is a large prolonged event such as this, people who are specially trained respond to the need.

Owens said that eight people from the Pee Dee team are now at the command station. They have transitioned from the command that had been there for the past day, with a briefing period. The teams are designed to deal with any kind of hazard, such as fire, flood, tornado, earthquake, toxic spills and many other types of events.

Owens said there would be an expected 9-12 hours of active fire, then the team would transition into mop up, such as pulling metal off to open up hot spots. The present effort is mainly to contain the fire, to protect other buildings and the surrounding woods and grasslands.

Water is being used to moderate the fire, the bulk being pulled from Tupperware's own pond, but also being taken from the Hemingway water system through hydrants. Forestry officials were present and had plowed a fire break through the woods and fields adjacent to the building.

DHEC officials were at the scene testing air quality and water runoff for any dangerous contaminants. A voluntary evacuation was given for downwind homes in the Donnelly area and a shelter was set up by the Red Cross at Hemingway High School. As of 11 p.m. no one had arrived at the shelter.

The Red Cross and the Williamsburg E-911 Emergency Management was also providing food, drinks portable toilets and rest areas for fire fighters. The men and women were rotated on and off duty, to prevent anyone from exhaustion, and to keep them safe.

Owens said that there had not been any injuries of any personnel to that point.

Besides Williamsburg there have been personnel from Myrtle Beach, South Lynches, Georgetown, Windy Hill, Howe Springs, St. Johns (Johns Island), Midway, Johnsonville, Conway, and other fire departments.

About 80 fire fighters were on the scene Wednesday night.

The Weekly Observer, The Florence Morning News and TV 13 will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.