A 28-year-old man received second-degree burns over approximately 40 percent of his body following a fire at the Lively Stone Temple located at 1406 Lively Stone Road south of Ashton on Saturday June 13 at 1:47 p.m.
The man and several other church members were conducting grounds maintenance. Witnesses said a lawn mower stored in a building was being refueled when an explosion occurred, spreading fire to the building and igniting the man’s clothing. Other members assisted the injured man and called 9-1-1.
Fire-Rescue units arrived a few minutes later. The first unit reported the storage building was fully involved and the fire had spread to two large motor coaches parked nearby. Crews deployed two handlines with one protecting and cooling a LP tank, while the other combated the building fire.
A Fire-Rescue ambulance crew quickly treated the injured man and requested a helicopter. CARE Flight landed in the field in front of Bells Elementary School at Bells Crossroads and the victim was transported there, but complications arose and the patient could not be flown. The flight crew accompanied the ambulance’s crew and the patient to the Burn Center at MUSC in Charleston.
Other crews worked to extinguish the building and vehicle fires. The storage building was completely destroyed and both buses received heavy damage.
The cause of the fire was consistent with the witness reports and appeared to have started near the lawn mower.
Units were on the scene for who hours.
