A large fire endangered several homes on Treu Street, February 3rd. Colleton
County Fire-Rescue arrived at the rural dirt road to find a line of debris piles on fire with flames extending to 50 feet in the
air. The piles of land clearing debris were lined along the entire length of street. The line of debris was over 300 feet long and piled approx. 20 feet high extending half of the block. The radiant heat was endangering four mobile homes, several that were already showing signs of potential involvement due to extreme heat. Additional assistance was requested by the first unit on scene, these including several brush trucks and a tractor from the Forestry Commission. The single lane dirt road presented some problems for
the larger firefighting equipment that had to share the road with the South Carolina Forestry Equipment. Firefighters attempted to knock down the flames in the vicinity of the mobile homes and deployed handlines to
cool the mobile homes, thus protecting them from further damage, with additional units positioned near each of the mobile homes to ensure they did not catch fire. The cooling operation continued for several hours, but no
homes were lost. The Forestry Commission ended up assigning three tractors and a Ranger to the incident. The tractors worked to clear a path through the long line of debris piles to cut off the travel of the fire. The fire was able to jump the fireline, but firefighters were able to extinguish the newly advancing
fire. Fire Rescue used a deck gun several times to knock down the heavy fire so the Forestry Tractors could safely operate. The property owner eventually brought a track hoe to the location and assisted in tearing the debris piles apart so they could be extinguished. Treu Street does not have fire hydrants, so water supply was conducted with tenders. Multiple tenders were assigned to the fire to supply the large amount of water needed to contain the fire. County fire crews were on the scene for over four hours, with Forestry and the landowner remaining to watch the fire over-night. The fire is thought to have started from an unattended burn barrel on Treu Street. Dry conditions and light winds spread burning embers around the area.
