FLORENCE – A home was destroyed and a firefighter injured following an early morning fire Saturday.
West Florence Fire Department responded to the fire about 3:15 after a motorist on Interstate 95 phoned 911 to report the blaze.
The house, off Sumter Street Extension, was fully engulfed when initially reported and had flames shooting through the roof when firefighters arrived, West Florence Fire Chief LaRue Hendrix said.
The design of the 70-year-old home, tongue-in-groove ceiling construction, made the blaze difficult to fight, Hendrix said.
Palmetto Rural and Windy Hill volunteer fire departments each sent a tanker and firefighters to help, Hendrix said, adding his department used several trucks to shuttle water to the fire.
Nobody was home when the fire broke out, Hendrix said. The homeowner told firefighters he had left the house earlier in the morning to take his children to a relative’s home and may have left the stove on, Hendrix said.
There was nothing suspicious about the blaze, Hendrix said.
The West Florence firefighter who was injured was near a chimney that collapsed during mop-up operations, Hendrix said.
“I’m pretty sure he’s fine, he was laughing when he left, cutting up with us,” Hendrix said, adding he hadn’t heard back from the hospital about his condition.
Between the fire and cleaning up their gear afterwards, Hendrix said firefighters were about 11 a.m. finishing up.
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