RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — A fire broke out at a local business in Ballentine last night destroying the building.
After further investigation, officials believe the fire was not an accident.
Pelican’s Snoballs on Dutch Fork Road in Ballentine is completely ruined after a fire broke out sometime during Saturday’s early morning hours.
Besides the fire, the business was robbed as well.
“Between 2 and 2:30, our store was broken into and our trucks," owner Merewynn Summers tells News19, "They started a fire inside and of course our store in the Ballentine location is 100% a total loss.”
Summers and her sister AC own this Pelican’s location as well as the one in Chapin on Murray Lindler Road, “My sister and I started Pelican’s five years ago here and we put a lot of love and hard work into it and it has just become a neighborhood family environment that everyone loves.”
Paul Prailleau brought his kids by to get an snow cone when he saw what had happened, “I don’t know what’s going through people’s minds right now. This is a nice place for kids to come, family so I don’t know what people are thinking.”
Mike Desumma with the Columbia Fire Department responded to the fire just before 2:30 Saturday morning and estimates the damages at around $80,000.
He says the Richland County Fire Marshall is still investigating. The Richland County Sheriff's Department is investigating as well.
“Its sad for us," Summers says, "We adapted through the coronavirus and made things work and were able to bring a little sunshine to all of our customers and we will continue to do it. We will survive this.”
Merewynn said that her security cameras were not working last night, and neighboring security cameras cut off at the beginning of her driveway so they were not able to get anything on footage.
If you know anything about what happened or happen to come by here last night and saw something out of the ordinary, contact Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.
The owner's other location in Chapin is still operating normally if you would like to support them during this time.
This is an ongoing investigation and we will update the story.