On Thursday Dec. 12, Clean Management at 915 Industrial Rd. was heavily damaged by a fire that sent two firefighters to the hospital after exposure to an unknown chemical. A passerby called 9-1-1 about 7 p.m., reporting that flames were coming from one of the buildings on the property. The first fire truck, stationed less than a mile away, arrived within minutes to find heavy fire conditions in the storage and processing building. Most of the structure was a large open-air canopy building used for storing and neutralizing industrial waste in hundreds of 55-gallon steel drums and plastic containers. A portion of the building also contained several offices, file and break rooms. Firefighters cut a section from the fence surrounding the property to gain access to the building and forced entry through the front and a side door. First arriving units requested a second alarm, then deployed multiple handlines. Two drop tanks were set up for water supply with tenders shuttling water for the firefighting effort. Crews worked for 40 minutes to gain control of the fire and were at the scene for five hours performing overhaul. The area over the offices received heavy damage, but the interior of the building was saved, receiving mostly smoke and water damage. Several pieces of heavy equipment were also destroyed or damaged in the fire. The melting plastic chemical containers emitted a thick, sticky substance the consistency of tree sap. The substance leaked onto the floor about nine inches deep, but was not visible to firefighters because of the heavy smoke. One firefighter got his foot stuck in the substance and fell trying to free himself. His partner was exposed trying to pull him out. The two firefighters were transported to Colleton Medical Center for evaluation, upon the recommendation of Chemtrec, a company that identifies hazardous materials. The IDs on the containers didn’t match anything in their database, so the recommendation was to take both to the hospital. Both were treated and released the following morning. From a surveillance video, it appears the fire started near a piece of heavy equipment parked in the middle of the facility about 30 minutes after the business closed. The fire quickly spread to the other parts of the building.
