Industrial Fire - Sims Rd.
Saturday, January 20th at 9:56 PM
High Point, Sandhills, and Ruby Mt.Croghan Fire Departments responded in the bitter cold to the report of a structure fire at Circle S Shavings on Sims Rd.
High Point Engine 21 arrived and found fire inside the machinery that moves shavings from the dryer to the storage building. Additional apparatus and personnel arrived from all three departments.
Firefighters removed access panels from the bottom of the burning machine and attempted to extinguish the fire with a hose line from Engine 21.
At 10:54 PM a Mayday was called when firefighters were overwhelmed by an explosion and fireball. Three firefighters from Sandhills and two firefighters from High Point suffered burn injuries and were taken to area hospitals. Two of the Sandhill firefighters were then taken to MUSC in Charleston for additional treatment of facial burns.
Additional hose lines were deployed to apply water from below while Sandhills set up their ladder truck to apply water from above. Tankers from all three departments set up a water shuttle operation and hauled over 60,000 gallons of water into the scene.
Firefighters cleared the scene at 03:04 AM Sunday morning leaving behind 600 feet of fire hose that had frozen and could not be reloaded until it thawed.
