JOHNSTON – Investigators with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division were on the scene Thursday to look into the cause of a Wednesday evening blaze that gutted a downtown building which housed a Mexican store and restaurant.

Johnston Police Chief Chris Aston said the agency was on hand at the request of his department due to the amount of property damage which had been inflicted by the fire.

“Just with the amount of damage to the building we wanted them to come down and take a look at it,” Aston said. “There’s no reason to suspect arson or anything else at this point right now, but whatever direction (the investigation) takes after that that’s where we’ll go.”

Aston said it’s still too soon to speculate as to what cause the fire that destroyed the “La Hidaegueuse” and sent plumes of smoke billowing all over town.

“Right now it’s just too early to say as to what started the fire,” he said.  

The investigation was slowed by a tall communications tower atop the building that became unstable when the fire damaged supporting wires. By Thursday afternoon the tower was visibly leaning, which kept personnel out of the building.

A crew and two cranes were called in to take down the tower. Sections of several streets – including Highway 23 (or Calhoun Street) through downtown were blocked off for safety. Aston said the investigators were ready to get to work once the tower was eliminated as a hazard, adding that the scene had been watched by law enforcement throughout the night to prevent any tampering with possible evidence at the scene.

“The tower will be taken down in two sections and it could take a few days to sort everything out,” he said. “We’ve already had a delay because of the tower, but SLED isn’t going to leave it and it was guarded all night. It’s their scene until they’re through with it.”

Aston expected to be able to reopen the roadways within a matter of hours.

“Hopefully they’ll be open here in the next two hours, we’re hoping by 6 or 7 to be opened back up.”

Just before 8 p.m. Wednesday evening emergency crews were called to the “La Hidaegueuse” in with a “fully engulfed” fire underway.

Emergency crews went right to work against the flames, which leapt high into a chilly night sky, but much of the inside of the structure was destroyed.     

Fire units from Johnston, Trenton and Edgefield responded to the incident and another local unit was placed in standby. Local railway traffic was stopped for a time as well.

Plumes of smoke carried into the air across rooftops in Johnston, drawing out crowds of concerned business owners, curious passersby and town residents.

Within an hour or so, however, emergency crews had the fire under control and by midnight most of the emergency crews were able to leave the scene.