HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Crews are at the scene of a brush fire in the Fountain Pointe Lane area of Horry County that ignited after a utility pole caught fire, authorities said.
More than 10,000 Horry Electric Cooperative and Santee Coopers customers in the Forestbrook and surrounding areas were without power after the incident Monday afternoon, according to websites for the utilities.
As of about 4:45 p.m., all but about 750 of the 5,100 Horry Electric customers initially affected by the outage were back online. Santee Cooper’s website showed that service had been restored to its more than 5,000 customers.
The outages occurred mostly in an area north of the Intracoastal Waterway and west of Highway 501 and include part of the Forestbrook area. They began at about 3 p.m.
The outage also knocked out traffic signals are also out, and authorities area are asking people in the area of Claypond and Burcale roads to drive carefully.
No buildings are being threatened by the fire, HCFR said. Utility crews are responding to fix the damaged pole.
The outages are occurring during one of the hottest days of the summer, with temperatures in the mid-90s and the heat index well about 100 degrees.
The South Carolina Forestry Commission is assisting.
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Dennis Bright is a digital producer at News13. Dennis is a West Virginia native and graduate of Marshall University. He has won copyediting and journalism awards in West Virginia and Ohio. Follow Dennis on Twitter and read more of his work here.
