Men tasked with demolishing St. Helena Island home, but the ‘fire just spread’
The two men tasked with demolishing a vacant St. Helena Island home got the job done Wednesday night but not in the way they planned.
The Paul Watson Lane home, which belonged to one of the men’s aunt, burned after flames from a nearby debris fire “just spread,” destroying the home and bringing the two men citations for illegal outdoor burning, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report.
The aunt, who lives in North Carolina, was interviewed by a deputy over the phone and said her nephew was doing what she asked, but that he had gone about it “in the wrong way,” the deputy wrote in the report.
“The fire had been set deliberately and the building was allowed to burn for an extended period of time before anyone called 911,” a Lady’s Island-St. Helena Island Fire District official determined, according to the report. .
Joan McDonough: 843-706-8125, @IPBG_Joan
This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Men tasked with demolishing St. Helena Island home, but the ‘fire just spread’."