1 killed in Beaufort Co. camper fire; officials say cause was ‘shorted out’ extension cord
An unidentified male resident of northern Beaufort County was killed in a Sunday morning camper fire that officials credit to an overburdened extension cord.
Crews from the Sheldon Fire District responded to the blaze around 6:40 a.m. Sunday, finding the camper “fully engulfed” in flames, according to Chief Buddy Jones. After extinguishing the fire about 45 minutes later, firefighters found a body inside the charred remains of the residence, he said.
Deemed a “total loss,” the camper accompanied a house on Huspah Drive, located off U.S. 17 (Trask Parkway) in the Sheldon area.
An occupant of the nearby house on the property told Beaufort County deputies one person had been living in the camper, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.
The apparent cause of the fire, according to Jones, was a “shorted out” extension cord running from the house to the camper, where it was used to power a space heater.
Thousands of house fires per year are sparked by extension cords that are overloaded or set up improperly, according to the Electrical Safety Foundation International. After a mobile home near Old Town Bluffton burned to the ground in December, fire officials attributed the blaze to an overloaded extension cord.
The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office had not named the deceased man as of Tuesday afternoon. Staff were awaiting DNA test results to make a positive identification, according to Deputy Coroner Michael Bowers.
This story was originally published March 25, 2025 at 3:18 PM.
