Fire displaces residents at Midlands assisted living facility

Dozens of people have been displaced after a fire in an assisted living facility on Saturday.

The Batesburg-Leesville Fire Department responded around 5:30 p.m. to a fire that broke out in the Generations of Batesburg-Leesville assisted living facility. Fire Chief Josh Frye told The State smoke could be seen pouring out of a residential building on the small campus on Generations Boulevard off Wilson Street, about a block south of West Columbia Avenue in Batesburg.

Seventeen living units were affected by the fire, which was ruled accidental, Frye said. It was unclear how many people had been displaced by the fire, but many of the 17 units damaged by the fire were double occupancy and the building had a total occupancy of 52, the chief said. All those displaced found housing elsewhere on the Generations campus.

The fire was put out within 40 minutes of the fire engines’ arrival, Frye said. Engines from Lexington and Saluda counties assisted in putting out the fire. Some Generations staff members were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation, Frye said, but no major injuries were reported and no one needed to be transported from the scene by ambulance.