Hartsville area haunted house lost in Sunday night fire

PINE RIDGE — The Darlington County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fire that burned the Lake Robinson Rescue Squad’s haunted house to the ground Sunday night.

SLED Arson was called in to assist with the investigation. The cause of the fire is still undetermined.

“This is not an arson investigation as of today. The fire is still undetermined,” Darlington County Sheriff Wayne Byrd said.

Investigators with both the Sheriff’s Office and SLED will continue to search of answers into the fire that completely destroyed the haunted house.

Darlington County Fire District Station 8 firefighters and deputies responded to the fire, which happened around 11 p.m.

When officials arrived on the scene, they found the Pine Ridge icon burned to the ground.

“We are investigating the fire and are trying to determine how and where the fire started. There is not much to work with,” Darlington County Fire District Chief David Williamson said.

Law enforcement officers as well as members the fire department dug through the debris Monday morning at the location on Old Camden Road.

“This is a tragic loss for the Pine Ridge community and the thousands of people that come every year,“ Sheriff Wayne Byrd said.

This was the 30th anniversary of the house being opened, and rescue squad members already were working on getting the house ready for this year.

All proceeds from the haunted house, which was located off Old Camden Road between Hartsville and McBee, went to the Lake Robinson Rescue Squad for ambulances, fuel and other expenses.

The haunted house began as a Lake Robinson Rescue Squad fundraising tour of haunted places in Hartsville. Originally a house tour, the event grew in popularity until it was expanded to include a trail.

The rescue squad discovered the current location 11 years ago in the Pine Ridge community of Darlington County.

Lake Robinson Rescue Squad Capt. Jason Cooke said in addition to helping provide funding for ambulances and fuel, the proceeds of the haunted house helped purchase a dive boat and a vehicle extrication truck.

Cooke said when his crews arrived on the scene, the haunted house was destroyed.

“Our initial thoughts were that, financially, we’re gonna be very, very tight this year because that’s our main fundraiser and we’ve been doing it for 30 years,” Cooke said. “This is actually the 30th anniversary of the haunted house, and so that makes it even worse because we had a lot of big things planned for this year and so when we saw it burned to the ground, there were a lot of tearful people out there.”

Cooke said the house was a Halloween tradition for many families across the Pee Dee, including those working with the rescue squad.

“Everybody around here knows Lake Robinson’s haunted house. They’ve been to it, they’ve seen it, they’ve been scared by it — everybody has a lot of great memories from it,“ he said.

Cooke said that while the squad doesn’t have the funding to replace the house, he hopes they will be able to raise it eventually, and rebuild. He said the squad will still hold hayrides at the site this year.

In addition, Cooke said, the rescue squad will hold a meeting Tuesday night to discuss the fire and plans for this Halloween season.

Cooke said the squad will have to rely on community support to help make up for the lack of funding the haunted house would have provided.

“We’ll definitely persevere through this,” Cooke said. “It’s just an issue that comes up and it could happen to anybody at any point in time, and we’ll make it through it; it’s just going to be tough this year.”

Donations
The Lake Robinson Rescue Squad also has set up a donation account to help rebuild the haunted house. Donations can be made at Heritage Community Bank in Hartsville, or people can send donations to The Lake Robinson Rescue Squad Fund at P.O. Box 2955, Hartsville, SC 29551.

Anyone with information about the fire is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (843) 398-4501.