PINE ISLAND, South Carolina — Monday morning Irmo, Columbia and Lexington Fire Departments responded to a fire at Pine Island around 11:30 am.
According to the State Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, it happened at the park manager’s residence, which could delay the park from it’s fall debut as South Carolina’s newest state park.
The department was set to make renovations to the island to reopen it for public use.
SCPRT said at the time of the fire no one was on the island or at the residence, no one was hurt.
A department spokesperson said the park storage area and the residential garage were total losses, but the house was not.
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“They were able to contain it before it got to far into the home,” Sam Queen, Director of Communications for the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. “…some storage buildings, its used for general parks storage and also a garage it’s kind of where the fire was before it got contained.”
Residents who live by said they saw several EMS vehicles blocking driveways of nearby homes.
“I saw all the smoke going out in the island, it was pretty big,” Kathy Aziz said.
She lives near Pine Island she said on her morning walk with her dog, she noticed smoke.
“I came back to put him up ran outside to get some water came back out and I heard a bunch of sirens,” she said.
She said no one was on the island or at the residence at the time of the fire. She said the new park manager was starting the move-in process but didn’t get very far.
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“Really just starting to move things over this past weekend but no one was in the house when it happened no one is living there full time,” Queen said.
This fire could delay the open date for the renovated island initially set to open this fall.
“Now that this has happened we’re not really sure how it impacts our timeline until we can really fully access the damage and kind of understand what repairs are needed. We want to wait until someone is living full time on Pine Island before we open it,” she said.
The Department of Parks and Recreation said it does not have a set date for when the park manager will move in now that this fire has happened.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.