A family is without a place to stay after a fire devastated a duplex in Colleton County on Saturday.
According to Colleton County Fire-Rescue, at around 9 a.m., an occupant in one of the units began to smell smoke. While investigating the source of the scent, the man found flames coming from the front windows of the neighboring unit.
The man got his family out of their apartment and called 9-1-1, officials say. Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and flames coming from the west side of the building.
Firefighters fought back flames from the exterior of the home before making entry through unit D's front door to find no one home. They then extinguished the remainder of the flames from inside the apartment.
Much of unit C avoided fire damage due to a block wall between the units; however, the second unit's attic was left charred, and other areas of the home received smoke damage.
Meanwhile, many of the family's belongings in unit D were lost to the flames.
Investigators believe the fire likely started in the area of an outlet in one of the bedrooms.
Firefighters were on scene for two-and-a-half hours.
While on scene, a family member rushing to the duplex drove through the fire scene, narrowly missed a pair of working firefighters and crashed into the side of a firetruck, according to CCFR. Officials say no one was injured in the crash or the fire.