Two cooking fires displace 2 families, injure 2 last week

Early Sunday morning, the Burton Fire District, MCAS Beaufort Fire Department, and Beaufort County EMS, responded to a second house fire caused by cooking this week in which another family was displaced and another adult was injured.

Just past 3:30am on Sunday, Sept. 22, Burton and MCAS firefighters, along with Beaufort County EMS, responded to a reported house fire on Garret Smalls Road in Seabrook. Firefighters arrived on scene to a single story home heavily involved in fire.

While the fire was quickly contained, it took fire crews over an hour to fully extinguish. The fire, which was caused by cooking, displaced a family of six including four children. An adult female received non-life threatening injures, including burns, while waking the children and getting them out of the home. Red Cross is assisting the family.

This is the second cooking-related fire this week for Burton and MCAS firefighters. Four days earlier, on Wednesday, Sept. 18 just before 5:30pm, firefighters extinguished a fire in a family home on Laurel Street East. 

Fire crews arrived on scene and reported smoke coming from the single-family home.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire, but not before extensive damages occurred in the kitchen, and smoke and heat damage throughout the home.

This fire displaced a family of seven, including four children, and also injured an adult female who sustained serious, but non-life threatening, burns.

Red Cross was notified and is assisting the family. Shureka Brodus, a member of the family, posted to the Burton Fire District Facebook page that her “family lost pretty much everything from memories to kid’s uniforms,” and is in need of assistance. The children attend the local Shanklin Elementary School.

Burton fire investigators have determined that the cause of the fire was cooking on the stove, which is the leading cause of fire nationally. The Burton Fire District has responded to over 38 building fires in 2019, with cooking being the leading cause of those fires. 

Anyone wishing to help this family can contact the Burton Fire District at (843) 255-8011, or email safetyed@burtonfd.org.

Above: Early Sunday, Burton and MCAS firefighters, along with Beaufort County EMS, responded to a house fire on Garret Smalls Road in Seabrook.

Previous Story

BHS Volleyball

Next Story

Island Girls Night Out

Latest from News

Lowcountry Lowdown

Surprise! More talk about the trees By Lolita Huckaby BEAUFORT As expected, the Beaufort City Council