Fire erupts at Roseboro Rescue

Distressing news occurred in Roseboro Tuesday night as a call in regards to a fire breaking out at the Roseboro Rescue and EMS base came in. The outbreak was severe, causing significant damage.

Roseboro Fire Chief Lee Coleman said the fire occurred at approximately 11:30 p.m. that night. The Roseboro Fire Department was dispatched to the Roseboro Rescue Squad building located on 400 E Howard St. following a report on a fire occurring inside from a passerby motorist.

Coleman was the first to arrive at the site to find the crash truck ablaze, the fire pouring out of the engine. Attempts to quell the fire soon began and prevented damage to other vehicles inside the building. Damages to the crash truck itself were reported to be devastating resulting in it being totaled.

While the fire did cause further damage to the interior of the building, Coleman noted that no injuries were caused during the incident thanks to crews being on call. Accounts he further detailed.

“Roseboro Rescue had the fire, we just responded but it was the crash truck that actually burned, it wasn’t an ambulance,” he said. “The crash truck is something that carries equipment such as the jaws of life, it responds to all the wreck and rescues. Fortunately, the paramedics were already out on the call so there wasn’t anybody in the building.”

It’d be during that time the fire emerged from what Coleman thinks was a short in the engine.

“After they left something shorted under the hood, most likely that’s what happened, and caught the truck on fire” he said. “The smoke, evidently, hit one of the sensors or something which opened up the bay door in front of it and somebody riding by saw it and called it in.”

As stated, Coleman was the first to arrive and tried to extinguish the fire to no avail. After the fire crew arrived things got under control but not before massive damage was done. As for just how bad it was, extensive is no understatement.

“I got there first and tried to hit it with a fire extinguisher but that didn’t do any good,” Coleman said. “I couldn’t do anything and it was burning so bad it damaged the inside of the building. Because of it, they’ve had to move crews to the Salemburg Fire Department where they’re staging now until they get the building back in shape.”

“It messed up the inside of the offices, the sleeping quarters and everything’s got smoke damage,” he added. “The ceiling inside the bay area, the insulation and all that stuff melted. Even the PVC pipes, the wiring and all that melted as well. Of course, it totaled the truck, equipment inside the truck is still good, but the truck itself not so much.”

Roseboro Mayor Alice Butler was out of town when the incident happened but The Sampson Independent was able to reach out to her for comment.

“Just for background sake, they, being Roseboro Rescue are incorporated, so they’re actually not part of the town if that makes sense,” she said. “Right now out of that building, EMS, who is the county, they operate out of that building. They’re called the Roseboro Rescue Squad, but the County EMS Emergency Management Systems operate out of that building. What them being incorporated means is that it’s not like town money or funds, being used.”

“Either way, Lee Coleman, our fire chief, I mean, they were right on it last night because it could have been a lot worse,” she said. “I’ve talked to him a lot and I’m just thankful that when I found out about it that no one obviously was hurt. EMS was actually on a call when it happened and somebody just drove by and unfortunately called it in. So again, I’m just glad we were fortunately able to hear that no one was hurt or anything.”

With the building officially out of commission until repairs are done and crews having to be relocated what does that mean for Roseboro Rescue Squad going forward? Coleman touched base on that front noting they were going through a transitional period when all this arose.

“Well we’re actually in a transition phase where Roseboro Rescue is gonna give up the service doing extrication,” he said. “They were going to give that up and give it to the fire department. So right now we’re having, every time there’s a wreck, other departments to come in and help us until we can get that worked out.”

“Currently the fire department doesn’t provide the rescue service, but again, we’re working to take that over from them,” Coleman said. “In the interim, we’re having different departments come in and help us until we made that change. Well, now that Roseboro Rescue doesn’t have that truck anymore, we’re solely dependent on other departments to come in and provide that Rescue Service on all of our wrecks.”

“Whereas now that means, say if you’re driving through Roseboro, and there’s a wreck,” he added. “You would have that crash truck or another fire department come in to help us. But, now that crash truck won’t be there, it’s just gonna be the other fire department coming to help us.”