SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A fire in Spartanburg County that mysteriously erupted, causing a road to close Wednesday morning is being investigated as an intentional, malicious act.Early Wednesday morning, crews from Boiling Springs Fire Department and nearly 20 other area stations were called to a large brush fire on River Oak Road, near Short Cut Road.River Oak Road, around Short Cut Road, had to be closed due to the traffic buildup, as crews worked to extinguish the fire.Fire Chief Scott Miller said they h...
SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A fire in Spartanburg County that mysteriously erupted, causing a road to close Wednesday morning is being investigated as an intentional, malicious act.
Early Wednesday morning, crews from Boiling Springs Fire Department and nearly 20 other area stations were called to a large brush fire on River Oak Road, near Short Cut Road.
River Oak Road, around Short Cut Road, had to be closed due to the traffic buildup, as crews worked to extinguish the fire.
Fire Chief Scott Miller said they have never seen a brush fire in the county like this.
“Never,” Boiling Springs Fire Chief Scott Miller said. “We have never had a brush pile this large.”
The brush pile contained debris from Hurricane Helene. The site had served as a drop off for several weeks.
Miller said crews were on scene one minute after the call came in, around 2 a.m. He said they knew it would not a small task.
“It’s a huge fire,” Miller said. “It is equivalent to 2-3 multi-story buildings worth of timber, trees, and limbs.”
Miller said extinguishing the fire took several hours of work, and crews were not able to scale back their work for the first five hours they were on scene.
“If you take a look at the site there is no way we were going to put it out,” Miller said. “It was about managing the heat and the ash and the temperatures of it to keep it off the structures.”
One of the biggest concerns was in case the fire began to spread. Luckily, 7News was told that no structures were impacted and no injuries have been reported.
“We set up water supplies and water lines to try and keep the fire and the heat off of the church, and the embers off of the other house,” Miller said. “We worked to contain it, knock it down so that it could be monitored over the next few days without having to worry about the risk of spread or further fires,” Chief Miller said.
The Boiling Springs Fire Department said they are investigating the fire as an intentional, malicious act. They do not recommend that anyone at home attempt to burn their storm debris.
“I don’t want people to get impatient with the county of the state and think this is a responsible way to get rid of your debris,” Miller said. “This was not planned. This was not in any way meant to happen.”
Boiling Springs Fire Department said the debris pile is expected to smolder over the next several days. The fire department will monitor the area while it is still smoldering.
The fire investigation has been turned over to the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office. Anyone with information about the fire is asked to contact the sheriff’s office.