An equipment fire spread to a building in an early morning incident at a business located at Clearwater Drive Thursday October 24. Colleton County Fire-Rescue units were dispatched to American Bio-Mass, a non-hazardous waste disposal company, for a report of a trackhoe on fire possibly involving a shed. Fire-Rescue units observed a large column of black smoke a mile from the scene. Upon arrival, heavy black smoke was noted coming from a one-story block building where the waste products are processed. A second alarm was requested. Additional fire apparatus arrived and deployed multiple small and large hand lines. Firefighters entered the building and contained the fire on the east side of the structure, saving the building. Crews worked for approximately 30 minutes to knock down the fire in a mixing pit outside the building and around the exterior of the building in piles of sawdust. Quick thinking workers had moved the burning trackhoe away from the building shortly after the incident occurred. However, a frontend loader and several forklifts were destroyed. Firefighter-Paramedics were on the scene for five hours performing overhaul. It appears the fire started on the trackhoe, possibly from a reputed hydraulic line and spread to the mixing pit. DHEC also responded to the scene. No injuries were reported during the incident.
