EASLEY - Aside from one firefighter’s ankle, no injuries resulted from the three-story blaze at the Auston Woods apartments Friday.
Firefighters responded on Jan. 4 to a fire in the 115 building at about 2:40 p.m. with two pumper trucks, a service truck and a platform truck.
“The fire was contained within 30 minutes and several hours were spent on salvage and overhaul purposes,” said Capt. John Willis in a release. “The fire caused heavy damage to two units and smoke and water damage to seven additional units.”
The fire department’s Cause and Origin Team along with the Easley Police Department ruled the fire accidental.
“According to our investigation there are no signs of foul play,” said police Maj. Tim Tollison.
A firewall built into the structure assisted firefighters by slowing the progress of the flames, officials said.
The fire’s exact cause may never be known because authorities are comfortable with the ruling and will not be investigating further, said fire Chief Butch Womack.
“We’re comfortable enough that we’re not going further with the investigation,” Womack said. “We’re still confident where it started. It was on the outside, on the balcony deck area.”
Fellow workers from the Liberty, Pickens and Dacusville fire departments joined Easley in battling the blaze, Womack said. That brought the number of firefighters on the scene to well over 50, he said.
“The firefighters did everything they were trained to do,” Womack said. “I think it went great. We had good response from our off-duty people. We depend on our off-duty and volunteers to give us full support and that’s what happened.”
Fire and police working together also aided the situation.
“I was pleased with the cooperation between the two agencies investigating the fire, to be able to rule it as accidental as quickly as we did,” Tollison said.
Womack agreed.
“Praise, to all the firefighters and police officers in working so closely together,” Womack said. “Not only was the fire bad, but the traffic
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