A fire ripped through the 1417 Hooper Street home of Pete and Summar Phillips last Thursday evening causing extensive damage from fire, smoke and water. Approximately 30 firefighters, eight emergency vehicles (not including police) and two departments (Charleston and N. Charleston) battled the blaze for over four hours, according to City of Charleston Public

A fire severely damaged 1417 Hooper Street last Thursday evening. Firefighters battled the blaze for over four hours.

Information Officer Mark Ruppel.

The first crew arrived on the scene at 6:51 p.m. and the last crew cleared out at 11:28 p.m. Ruppel said the fire was under control within 50 minutes of the first crew arriving at the scene.

No one was injured but several firefighters were treated on the scene for heat exhaustion.

Chris Parsons, a neighbor who helped rescue the Phillips’s pets from the home, reported hearing what he described as a lightening strike hit the house. Although the fire department has not determined the exact cause of the fire, Ruppel noted, "There was a severe lightning storm in the area approximately 30-45 minutes prior to the fire being discovered."

A witness at the scene reported that the fire department had a difficult time getting water flowing from the hydrant, estimating that it took at least 20 minutes for them to get water flowing from the fire hydrant once they got on the scene. Ruppel confirmed that there was a delay getting water from the hydrant but that it did not delay fire fighting operations.

"A firefighter did charge the hydrant before the engineer had the hose hooked up to the pumper," explained Ruppel. "This resulted in a delay in the water supply from the hydrant being established. That factor will be examined during the critical incident review we conduct after all major fires. However, the crew inside was using water from the pumper’s tank. Water was flowing on the fire, but that is not visible to witnesses. The crews had a difficult time accessing the fire due to the heavy smoke and the stairs to the attic had burned away before we arrived. Due to the head start of the fire, crews were forced to go to defensive operations because the roof assembly had been compromised and collapsed."

A firefighter at the scene also raised a question as to fire fighting capabilities on the island. Ruppel explained, "This was a large fire that had time to develop prior to us being notified. The development on Daniel Island has grown significantly. The City of Charleston Fire Department has been working with local and regional assets to have mutual aid with neighboring Fire Departments to help cover each other’s area. We are actively looking at a needs assessment of the Island and had been prior to the Hooper Street fire."