Lugoff Fire-Rescue crews credit working smoke alarms for alerting occupants about a fire inside of a double-wide mobile home in Lugoff on Tremont Road. 

Kershaw County E911 alerted Lugoff Fire-Rescue to a fire inside a large mobile home  around 2:30 a.m. June 13.  Lugoff Engine 7 and Ladder 10 arrived to find a double-wide mobile home well-involved in fire that had already breached through the roof towards the rear of the home. All of the occupants had evacuated the home safely and credited their escape to the warning from smoke alarms in the home. Four adults, two young adults, and one infant were inside the home at the time of the fire. 

It took crews more than 30 minutes to control the fire due to a partial roof collapse from the extreme fire and heat already spread throughout the home. Additional firefighters and water tankers from Blaney, Doby’s Mill, and Pine Grove Fire Departments also responded providing aid to Lugoff crews in an area with no fire hydrant coverage limiting available water supply for firefighting operations. Water was shuttled with Kershaw County Fire tankers keeping the Lugoff engine supplied with water. 

One firefighter was transported to Kershaw Health and released later that morning by Kershaw County EMS.

Preliminary investigations revealed the fire started in the area of the laundry room and the final cause is still being determined. 

“This fire is yet another example of the importance of working smoke alarms inside all homes outside every bedroom on every floor,” LF-R Chief Dennis Ray said. “If these alarms had not alerted the occupants, the results of this fire could likely have been much more catastrophic with seven people inside the home rapidly filling full of smoke from a fast-moving fire in the very early hours of the morning.”

 Ray said all of the Lugoff and Kershaw County firefighters did an outstanding job of controlling the heavy fire load quickly; especially facing the collapsed roof and limited access to other rooms in the home. 

“This is also another exceptional act of firefighter volunteerism and dedication to the community to respond at 2:30 a.m. for a major home fire while many others are sleeping and knowing many of these firefighters had to report to work a few hours later,” Ray said. “I cannot stress enough our thankfulness for our firefighters and recognize the extreme demands placed on the Fire Service in today’s society.”