Hampton County emergency personnel had a hectic Thursday afternoon, responding to a store fire and two automobile accidents in less than an hour.
Hampton County fire departments and EMS responded to a reported structure fire at the Nixville Country Store located at 4400 Browning Gate Road around 2:45 p.m. Thursday. Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke showing and were able to knock the flames down quickly, but not before the store suffered heavy smoke and fire damage, mainly to the interior.
The cause of the fire at that time is believed to be electrical, said Hampton County Fire Chief Gene Rushing at the scene.
The owner's residence behind the store was not damaged, and fire units cleared the scene around 4:40 p.m.
Just minutes later, Hampton County EMS responded to a serious motorcycle wreck that occurred on Mill Pond Road around 3 p.m. The motorcycle driver, who was not wearing a helmet, suffered severe head trauma as well as hip and shoulder injury and was flown from a nearby landing zone by Life Net helicopter to a regional trauma unit.
A second two-car accident was reported around 2:25 p.m. at the intersection of Clark Avenue and Fourth Street in Estill. At least one person was transported by EMS to Hampton Regional Medical Center.
The identity of the two crash victims is not known at this time.
Firefighters and S.C. Forestry Commission units also battled a fire in a wooded area on Wise Road in Yemassee around 4:20 p.m.
More details on these stories will be posted as they become available and published in next week's issue of The Guardian.