17 3,000-Gallon Tankers  Used At 11-Hour S.C. Fire
By Barry McRoy

When fire struck the Southland Restaurant in Walterboro, S.C., water was a major concern. There was only one hydrant in the area, located 700 feet from the building. The hydrant was adequate for the initial attack, but as the fire grew and ultimately destroyed the establishment, the single hydrant could not keep up with the demand.

At the peak of the fire, Colleton County Fire Rescue had 17 3,000-gallon tankers supplying three separate water dump sites to support firefighting efforts. We moved a lot of water during that 12-hour fire that claimed the 60-year-old landmark.

We received the call at 3:49 p.m. on Feb. 9, on a very busy Saturday afternoon. Over the three days, Saturday through Monday, we responded to 36 woods fires, which destroyed six structures. Several of the woods fires went to second alarms. The wind was strong that weekend and helped spread the first. That, coupled with the fact we were in the middle of a severe drought, just made matters worse.

The first engine on the scene, arriving about six minutes after receiving the initial call, reported heavy smoke bellowing from the rear of the building with heavy fire conditions inside the rear of the structure involving several rooms. The fire started from an outdoor yard debris fire, spread to dry grass and extended to stored material behind the restaurant. It quickly burned up a back wall and into the ceiling space at the back of the building.

On the initial attack, firefighters made an aggressive attack with two 1 3/4-inch hand lines and had the bulk of the fire inside the building knocked down.

Unfortunately, the fire had spread to void spaces between the ceiling and roof. Due to the older construction of the building, firefighters had a difficult time reaching the smoldering fire in that area. Over the 60 years of its existence, the building had been added on to several times with each addition having a different type of roof construction, overlapping in some cases.

From the vantage point of an E-ONE 95-foot platform aerials it was easy to see the magnitude of the fire in which 17 tankers were needed to supplement the water supply.  (Fire Apparatus Photo by Barry McRoy)

Two 95-foot aerial platforms, two engine deck guns and countless hand lines, all part of Colleton County Fire Rescue, were used during the multiple alarm Southland Restaurant fire. (Fire Apparatus Photo by Barry McRoy)

The oldest portion had a tongue and groove ceiling, covered with wire mesh and plaster making it nearly impossible to penetrate. Our chainsaws wouldn’t even cut through it. The original art deco rounded building design had been squared off 35 years prior and then added on to several times, creating multiple void spaces. Compounding the problem, the building did not have a sprinkler system.

Fire continued to intensify in the inaccessible voids as crews worked to cut several access holes, but fire broke through the ceiling inside and greatly intensified. At that point, with the interior fire rapidly growing, and the conditions becoming unsafe, the incident commander issued an evacuation order. Within 10 minutes of that order, flames started blowing out the front doors of the structure.

As the fire grew, water supply became a major issue. The single pressurized hydrant was feeding one of the county’s 95-foot E-ONE platform aerials and the deck guns on two engines through 700 feet of 5-inch large-diameter hose. The hydrant just couldn’t keep up with the demand supplying about 800 gallons per minute.

A second alarm had already been issued at that point, bringing additional personnel, tankers and the county’s second E-ONE 95-foot platform aerial to the scene. Two water shuttle operations were established to supply water for firefighting efforts and to supply both platforms. About two hours into operations the third and fourth alarms were issued for personnel and tankers and a recall of off-duty personnel. The assignment called over 100 firefighters to the scene. At that point, Jefferies Highway (U.S. Highway 15) was closed to all traffic as hose was stretched and apparatus arrived.

On the south end of the building a large tanker shuttle, employing 12 tankers, was established to supply one of the ladders with a 1,500-gpm pump and a 1,500-gpm engine. The tankers in that operation used two fill sites, both pressurized hydrants, one about 1.5 miles from the scene and the other about 2 miles away at a local factory equipped with an overhead water storage tank. Pressure was good at both filling locations. The aerial on the south end was also being supplied by the hydrant closest to the scene.

Water on the south end was being used as fast as the tanker drivers could dump and move. The tankers parked in a line on the highway, made a loop through an old motel parking lot adjacent to the fire and then backed up to the drop tank. The arrangement worked well.

A second shuttle worked on the north end of the fire consisting of five tankers supplying the second quint, which was operating only a deck gun from the platform. The tankers assigned to the north also refilled at a pressurized hydrant about one mile north of the fire. They staged in a truck repair shop across the street from the fire.

At the height of the fire, a third shuttle was set up, also on the south end of the fire by pulling a few tankers from the larger shuttle. The initial attack engine got blocked in at the scene, but needed a water supply. A 3-inch supply line was snaked through an 8-foot hedgerow to feed the trapped engine, which was flowing a deck gun and several hand lines to the rear of the building. A pumper/tanker fed the engine and tankers in the shuttle were re-directed to the third shuttle as needed to maintain the attack engine’s supply.

In all, six county engines, 17 3,000-gallon tankers, two ladder towers, four ambulances, two squads and a rescue truck responded. In addition, the city of Walterboro sent an engine.

Units cleared the scene a little after 3 a.m. more than 11 hours after the initial call was received. Southland Restaurant, which had been operating continuously since 1949, was a total loss.

Editor’s note: Barry McRoy is the director of Colleton County (S.C.) Fire-Rescue, which undertook an ambitious 10-year project involving the purchase of 16 tankers that dramatically improved its ISO rating, resulting in huge reductions in insurance premiums for residents of the rural county.