ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — In the early hours of Monday afternoon, Orangeburg fire marshals responded to a housefire.

The fire broke out around 1:30pm on Campus Drive, near Chestnut Drive and when emergency services arrived all eight occupants were already out safely and were able to keep the fire to one room.

Jonathan Winningham is the Orangeburg Battalion Chief and says they found the cause for the accident.

“Our firefighters performed a origin in cause investigation while on scene and determined that the fire originated in a bedroom,” Winningham said. “From multiple devices being plugged into extension cords and plugged into a single wall receptacle.”

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The American Red Cross has since stepped in and helped the nine individuals find their footing. Glenda Barton is a Disaster Action Team (DAT) Responder and says that seeing the victims after the fire was hard. 

“Well a lot of people, they go into kind of like a state of shock,” said Barton. “They don’t know where to turn next because everything they work for has been damaged and they’re just at a loss for what to do.”

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One of the ways the Red Cross helped was giving each individual effected by the fire a comfort kit. Comfort Kits come with deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, washcloths, bath soap and more. Barton said yesterday’s damage made it harder for the family in the future.

“I would encourage people if they are renting, check into renters insurance,” said Barton. “You never know when you’re going to have a fire. and renters insurance is something that would help in the recovery process. It’s hard on us pulling up on scenes and seeing people’s stuff in ashes and they don’t know what they are going to do down the road.”

Officials say there is significant heat and smoke damage to the structure.

This was the second fire that the Department of Public Safety responded to during that shift, the other was a vacant South Carolina State University building and that is currently under investigation.