A Conway mobile home fire shut down a part of S.C. 544 Thursday afternoon as Horry County Fire Rescue crews battled the blaze. One woman was taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation and a neighbor safely removed a pet before firefighters arrived. cbyun@thesunnews.com
CONWAY
One woman was taken to the hospital and a section of S.C. 544 in Conway was closed for an hour Thursday as Horry County Fire Rescue firefighters battled a home fire.
Crews were dispatched at 1:04 p.m. Thursday to the fully involved structure fire at 1011 Kings Road, according to Justin Gibbins, assistant fire chief. The fire appeared to be electrical and started in an addition of the home, according to reports.
S.C. 544 was closed for about an hour because a water supply line crossed the highway, and firefighters reopened northbound lanes to traffic around 2 p.m., Gibbins said. Southbound lanes were closed for another hour while crews removed the water supply line.
One woman was taken to Conway Medical Center for smoke inhalation and was in stable condition Thursday afternoon. Two adults – including the woman taken to the hospital – and one child are displaced because of the fire and the American Red Cross is assisting them, Gibbins said.
Horry County Fire Rescue initially responded to the fire and was assisted by the Conway Fire and Myrtle Beach Fire departments, Gibbins said. Responding crews called for additional help because of the size of the fire and the fact that the closest fire hydrant was across the street, he said.
Myrtle Beach Fire provided an ambulance and another engine, and the Conway department provided three extra crews, Gibbins said.
Crews had to use a fire hydrant on the opposite side of S.C. 544, which is why both lanes of traffic were shut down for about an hour, Gibbins said.
“We had to have extra units to block the road and prevent cars from driving over our supply hose, which did cause a disturbance to traffic,” he said.
The S.C. Highway Patrol let some Conway-bound traffic through by diverting it through a parking lot, Gibbins said, to ease the congestion as much as possible.
Gladys Allen, the aunt of the homeowner, said she was having lunch when she got the call about the fire. Allen was eating with her brother, who is the father of the woman taken to the hospital.
“She was just too upset to tell us anything, really,” Allen said. “She just said her house was burning.”
The mobile home was about 50 percent engulfed when firefighters arrived and there is “extensive” damage inside the house, Gibbins said. The fire most likely started on the back porch, which had been converted to a bedroom, he said.
A neighbor removed one pet from the home before firefighters arrived and officials don’t believe there are any deceased pets from the fire, Gibbins said. Officials were able to save some items from the home – including several guns – and everyone made it out safely.
“We were able to save a lot of the property from the interior of the house,” Gibbins said.
No comments:
Post a Comment