Firefighters minimize damage of home blaze

Just after midnight on November 3, the Lady’s Island St. Helena Fire District was called to the Alston Road neighborhood of Lady’s Island for the report of a possible house fire. Information given to 9-1-1 was that the caller could see their neighbor’s home completely covered with fire.
The first fire engine arrived in a matter of minutes of the call and was told by the neighbor that she feared the two male occupants of the home were still inside. “When we arrived there was a moderate amount of fire and a large volume of smoke coming from one side of the home” reported Jon Bekemeyer, company officer of the first in fire apparatus. Jon then relayed his findings to the additional in coming units and set about finding the homes occupants.
Firefighters made entry into the structure and fought to keep the fire contained to one side of home to minimize damage. While Jon and his crew were fighting the fire and searching for those feared inside, the occupants were thankfully not found to be in the home at the time of the fire. Firefighters were able to keep the fire damage compartmentalized to one side of the home as the fire was extinguished within 20 minutes of their arrival.
While the fire was quickly extinguished and contained to one side of the home, the rest of the structure was rendered uninhabitable due to smoke damage. Firefighters, Paramedics from Beaufort County EMS, and Sheriff’s Officers from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Officer were on scene for approximately three hours extinguishing the fire and investigating its cause. The official cause is still under investigation as preliminary findings have been inconclusive.