Old Shed set on Fire to destroy Dynamite

On Tuesday, a 20 lb. box of old dynamite was found inside an old abandoned work shed on property off Doug Hollow Road in Seneca. The Keowee Fire Department responded to the call and upon seeing the old dynamite requested experts to safely dispose of the danger, explains Keowee Fire Chief Ritchie Caudill. “Luckily the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office was the initial responder on it and then they called the Anderson Bomb Squad out. They came out and evaluated the situation and it determined that it was in a very unstable condition the way it was, so they determined our best course of action would be to just destroy it in place. According to the Bomb Squad, burning it was the safest way to handle it and after talking with the property owners, they agreed that was probably the best way to do it. So, we called some extra resources because community safety was our number one priority, so we had some extra departments come in and give us a hand going door-to-door notifying some residents. The county was very good about doing reverse 911 for us and we just sheltered everybody in the local area to make sure that they all stayed out of the area and stayed in their homes. The Bomb Squad initiated the whole scenario and got the fire going. Our biggest job was to stand by and make sure that the fire didn’t go anywhere and that the dynamite was consumed in the blaze. We had Salem Fire Department, Six Mile Fire Department from Pickens County, Oconee County Emergency Services, Ebenezer Fire Department, Corinth-Shiloh Fire Department, Oconee Memorial Hospital and the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office providing help. So, we had a lot of agencies involved because it was just a very unusual call, but everything went extremely well.” Chief Caudill appreciated the overwhelming support from every agency who worked the situation Tuesday afternoon near Lake Keowee.