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Batesburg-Leesville fire department owns one of the biggest ventilator fans in the state

The fire chief says they first made one of the biggest ventilation machines in the state a little less than two decades ago.

BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, S.C. — The Batesburg-Leesville Fire Department has one of the biggest ventilators in the state that was used to clear out the smoke in the Harbison Walmart fire early Tuesday morning.

It’s called the Vent 25. 

The machine is a ventilator fan that’s a homemade device with a 350 engine and a swamp boat fan.

Jay Hendrix, the fire chief of the Batesburg-Leesville Fire Department, says the device helps get rid of smoke in commercial and industrial buildings.

“This unit is the largest ventilation fan in the Midlands and it can move over a hundred cubic air per minute. It’s an amazing tool,” said Hendrix.

The fire chief says they typically use this device three to five times a year. For them to use the ventilator fan, it requires a large building such as the Walmart in Harbison.

Hendrix says the Batesburg-Leesville Fire Department has a mutual aid contract with other fire stations in the Midlands. Over the past five years, the Vent 25 has been used in various parts of Columbia, including a fire that happened at the Home Depot in Sandhills.

After the Batesburg-Leesville Fire Department got the call, they remained on scene at the Harbison Walmart for about an hour and a half while clearing the smoke in the building.

Hendrix says they first made one of the biggest ventilation machines in the state a little less than two decades ago.

“About 15 years ago, the previous fire chief, Tommy Shealy, and a few of his associates saw a similar unit at a large convention and decided they could build it,” explained Hendrix.

While Batesburg-Leesville may be one of the smaller towns in the Midlands, they are able to help the bigger cities whenever they’re called upon.

“It is unique that a small town of Batesburg-Leesville with about a 5,500 population is used by the bigger departments such as Lexington County, Irmo, and obviously the City of Columbia,” said Hendrix. “We have a specialty item that comes in handy for large incidents.”

Batesburg-Leesville hasn’t had to put this piece of equipment to work in their town often but the fire department says it’s been extremely useful in other parts of the Midlands and if they need to use it in the place they call home.

 If you have any other stories you would like Street Squad Lexington to cover, reach out to Nic on Twitter @NicJonesReports or on our Street Squad Lexington Facebook page.

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