Both the State Law Enforcement Division and the Sumter County Sheriff's Office have joined Sumter Fire Department investigators at The Compass outside of Turbeville to determine both a cause and origin of the fire that destroyed the 41-year-old restaurant late Tuesday night.
"The fire investigators have been out there since early this morning, but they really didn't get started good until 8 a.m.," said Sumter Fire Department Public Information Officer Joey Duggan. "They've been out there most of the day trying to find out the cause and origin. At this point, it's too early to say what caused the fire."
Duggan said it's also too early to tell whether foul play was involved.
"We don't even know a point of origin yet, so it's way too early for speculation on that end," he said.
Duggan said firefighters were called to the popular eatery about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday after a passerby on U.S. 378 notified dispatchers that the building was on fire. The restaurant itself was closed, as it is only open typically from Thursday through Sunday.
The restaurant's owner, Cliff Cantey, was at home recovering from surgery when he got the call.
"It's just devastating," he said Wednesday morning. "i don't know quite yet what we're going to do."
Duggan said firefighters worked on the fire and resulting hot spots until about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. He said traffic on U.S. 378 was blocked for about four hours during the response.
"The main reason the road was shut down was we were using fire trucks to shuttle water from fire hydrants from Clarendon and Sumter counties," Duggan said.
He said about 40 firefighters from Sumter and Clarendon responded. He thanked Clarendon firefighters for their assistance. It was the second time in two weeks that Clarendon firefighters helped with a devastating blaze in Sumter. The first was at Sumter Casket Company.
"We appreciate their continued help," said Duggan. "We have a great relationship with them through our mutual aid agreement, and they are always there to assist us when we need it, and we are ready to assist them."
