Fire fells Hartsville’s Lincoln Village
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Hartsville Fire Department crews responded to a Thursday, June 18 fire at the abandoned Lincoln Village Apartments, located on Eighth Street in Hartsville.
The initial report of fire was received around 10:15 pm that night, and Hartsville later requested mutual aid from Darlington Fire Department and the Darlington County Fire District.
DFD chief Pat Cavanaugh says his department sent personnel to man the Hartsville station while HFD firefighters contained the fire on the site of the dilapidated building and protected neighboring homes. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Long considered a blight property and a locus of drug activity, the Lincoln Village campus has changed ownership several times in recent years.
The City of Hartsville has tried to force various developers to either renovate or tear down the structures to no avail. After the latest developer failed to secure funding for rehabilitation, the city agreed to take ownership of the 7-acre site and raze the buildings later this year.
Hartsville city officials have stated it will take approximately $300,000 to clear off the site and convert it to green space, and they have applied for Community Development Block Grant funding to help pay for the project.
Chief Cavanaugh says DFD crews also responded to another call for mutual aid last week, joining about 100 Pee Dee area firefighters to battle a blaze at the East Coast Erosion Blankets plant in Lake City. Four Darlington firefighters helped at that June 18 straw plant fire.
