MONCKS CORNER — Within the early night March 30, firefighting crews extinguished a heavy blaze that ignited throughout the Nationwide Guard Armory.
Inside minutes, crews arrived on the scene at 320 Airport Drive to search out smoke coming from the armory constructing, stated Colt Roy, assistant hearth chief of central Berkeley hearth and EMS. A 911 caller round 6 p.m. had alerted them to the blaze, which had overtaken an inside provide room.
Whereas not sure if the provision room was for janitorial provides or miscellaneous storage, Roy stated that it didn’t include essential tools nor was it a part of the armory vault.
The constructing itself is giant and is “hardened,” constructed to face up to potential threats to the armory, Roy stated. These components created a problem to firefighting crews, as they wanted longer hoses to have the ability to attain the blaze.
In round an hour, crews had the hearth underneath management. Nobody was injured, Roy stated.
To assist air out the constructing within the aftermath, Roy referred to as representatives with Santee Cooper to herald a big fan boat — the sort constructed for rapidly traversing marshland. It proved to be way more environment friendly in clearing latent smoke than firefighters’ smaller followers designed for residential use.
The reason for ignition can be as much as the State Legislation Enforcement Division to find out, stated Roy. SLED is the first investigating physique as a result of governmental nature of the constructing. He stated that in incidents the place there’s a perception of foul play, firefighters can be notified prematurely and should take additional precautions. None had been wanted on this case and he acquired no official point out that the reason for ignition was essential.
The Nationwide Guard Armory is located inside Moncks Nook Rural Fireplace District jurisdiction, Roy stated. Their crews responded, as did firefighters from Moncks Nook Metropolis Fireplace, North Berkeley, East Berkley and a rehabilitation van was despatched from the Pine Ridge Fireplace Division.
A reporter with The Submit and Courier tried to acquire remark from officers with the Nationwide Guard Armory however didn’t obtain a response by the point of publication.
