Serving Barnwell County and it's neighbors since 1852
Barnwell County received two statewide awards for their successful response to the May 2022 landfill fire. Fire chiefs accepted the award from the South Carolina Association of Counties. From left to right: Long Branch Fire Department Chief Andy Hogg, retired Barnwell County Fire Commissioner Timbo Williams, Elko Fire Department Chief Michael Shumpert, Barnwell Rural Fire Department Jesse Elmore, Blackville Fire Department Chief Earthel Walker, Williston Fire Chief John Melton, Director of Solid Waste & the Landfill Frank Williams, and Van Henson, Director of Risk Management Services with the South Carolina Association of Counties.
Van Henson (right), director of Risk Management Services with the South Carolina Association of Counties, presents Barnwell County Business Manager Debbie Fickling (left) the Most Improved County award for 2022.
Barnwell County received two statewide awards from the South Carolina Association of Counties in the 2022 calendar year: The Outstanding Achievement Award and the Most Improved County Award.
“Barnwell was recognized for two safety awards from our insurance trust,” said Van Henson, director of Risk Management Services with the South Carolina Association of Counties (SCAC), at the February 14 Barnwell County Council meeting.
The Outstanding Achievement Award was presented for the successful response to the May 2022 landfill fire, and the Most Improved County Award was given based on a self-audit performed by the county.
The Outstanding Achievement Award
When the Barnwell County Landfill caught fire on the construction/demolition hill on May 15, 2022, there was an immediate response from the entire region.
“It’s hard to put into words how quickly this could have turned into a true disastrous situation,” said Henson.
“The award is not for having your landfill catch on fire,” said Henson, which garnered a chuckle in the crowd. “It’s how it was handled and everything was taken care of from them, that was just excellent work with all parties involved.”
Six local fire departments all responded and began working until late that night to put out the flames; however, the fire returned the next morning fully involved.
A few hours later responders from Barnwell County Emergency Management, Buildings and Grounds, County Administration, State Emergency Management, Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), Three Rivers Solid Waste Authority and Public Works Departments, Medshore EMS, Aiken County, Beaufort County, Dorchester County, Hampton County and the S.C. Forestry Commission came to help cover hot spots.
“The whole region responded,” said County Administrator Tim Bennett at the Jan. 30 Health & Safety Committee meeting.
By 4 p.m. the next day, the fire was almost out. The Aiken County Civil Air Patrol then provided FLIR thermal image cameras to locate the remaining hotspots to be covered with the assistance of the City of Barnwell, Williston, Elko, Blackville, Long Branch, Barnwell Rural and Red Oak fire departments.
Two local, private contractors came to aid in moving dirt alongside the many agencies and departments – Palmetto Tool and LRB Site Prep & Hauling LLC.
450 loads of dirt were moved in six hours with the help of these contractors and other responders, according to Roger Riley, Barnwell County Director of Emergency Management at the Health & Safety Committee meeting. Without their help, the process would have taken a lot longer.
Riley played a major role successfully controlling the fire alongside Williston Fire Department Chief John Melton and Frank Williams, the director of Landfill and Solid Waste.
“Roger Riley is the person who brought in all those outside entities and coordinated it throughout,” said Bennett. “Chief Melton came in as the initial incident commander, and did his thing. He fought it and coordinated the response.”
“Frank Williams, the landfill and solid waste director, operated the machinery guiding his people,” said Bennett. “It was an incredible evolution that took place over maybe 56 hours.”
There were no cases of heat exhaustion, burns, or injuries reported during the fire’s evolution and a tent with ample water was provided.
“All of this is a very good example of a proactive approach to risk management, just exceptional communication, both interdepartmental with the county as well as intergovernmental with other agencies and also networking with outside individuals in the process,” said Henson.
The Most Improved County Award
This award by SCAC is not presented to a S.C. county each year– “it is really reserved for very unique situations, and this year Barnwell County based off of information and data that was submitted to us,” said Henson.
“Barnwell County was the only county to receive this this year within the South Carolina Workers Comp and Property Liability Insurance Trust,” said Henson.
Barnwell County was named most improved based on data, documents, and information received in a self-audit performed by the county in the 2022 calendar year sent to SCAC.
“This one comes from a self-audit that we do, it's a good bit of work involved and we have to attach a lot of paperwork, things that we have physically done,” said Barnwell County Business Manager Debbie Fickling at the Jan. 30 Health and Safety meeting.
“We went through and saw some very good progress, some very good momentum forward as far as the basic risk management principles we really strive for to help make counties successful,” said Henson.
