Between the first 911 call at 4:55 p.m. and the time firefighters could do their work in an electricity-free environment at 5:18 p.m., the House of Pizza in Clinton alleges that its business was destroyed by others’ negligence.
The Aug. 26 legal action filed by the company — House of Pizza Musgrove LLC doing business as House of Pizza Clinton — alleges this negligence in regard to the massive Aug. 27, 2024 fire that destroyed the restaurant and surrounding structures.
A large “hole” in the middle of Clinton exists right now where the buildings used to be.
Neither the City of Clinton nor any investigative agency has said for the record how and/or why the fire started.
House of Pizza says the delay in cutting off the power, a lack of fire-suppression water in downtown Clinton, and a delay in County 911 calling the City of Clinton’s electric department, to make the disconnection, contributed to the destruction of their business.
A dollar-amount for the damage should be determined at trial, says the legal action, which is 8 pages and has 3 causes of action.
The lawsuit claims that when Clinton Fire responded to the scene, it found heavy fire in the rear deck area and a power line above the rear door “visibly arcing”.
This is the heart of House of Pizza’s allegations related to electricity:
“13. Water could not safely be applied to the fire while the City’s electrical service to the Property and surrounding infrastructure remained energized. As responding firefighters documented in the Clinton Fire Department’s incident narratives, fire attack was delayed “due to electrical lines being down,” firefighters “had to wait on utilities to cut power to the 3 phase system,” and crews stretched their lines and stood ready “while awaiting utilities.”
“14. The back porch of the building collapsed before fire attack began. Only after the City’s utility personnel disconnected the powerlines did firefighters begin their fire attack. … 18. City personnel told Plaintiff’s representative that the employee who knew how to shut off the electricity had left work early that day.”
The city’s alleged failures:
(a) failing to provide, maintain, or make available any emergency shutoff, disconnect switch, or other reasonable means by which its electric service to the Property could be promptly de-energized in an emergency;
(b) permitting the sole employee who knew how to operate the shutoff to leave work early and failing to maintain qualified personnel on duty or on call able to promptly de-energize the system;
(c) failing to respond with reasonable promptness to the emergency and failing to de-energize its service until approximately 5:18 p.m., while firefighters stood ready and unable to attack the fire;
(d) failing to maintain adequate emergency staffing, procedures, and protocols for utility response to fire scenes.
The county’s alleged failures:
(a) failing to promptly transmit the order, call, or request for de-energization to the City’s electric department;
(b) failing to follow reasonable protocols for notifying the electric utility of a structure fire requiring de-energization.
The City of Clinton’s Sept. 8 media statement says: “The City of Clinton is aware of information circulating through news and social media regarding a legal matter involving House of Pizza. However, as of 11:00 a.m. on September 8, 2026, the City has not been served with any legal documents related to the matter, according to City Manager Joey Meadors.
“Accordingly, the City has no comment on the matter at this time.”
The action is 2026CP3000903 on the Laurens County public index, filed Aug. 27, 2026 and set for arbitration March 25, 2027. Filing the action on behalf of House of Pizza is Joshua Snow Kendrick, attorney in Greenville.
The action also makes allegations related to the initial lack of water - despite this and other businesses’ status as paying utility customers in the downtown area - and claims that tanker-shuttles had to bring water from other areas during the massive fire’s initial response. It stresses the lack of water on Clay Street, at the building’s rear area.
The action emphasizes the 23-minute delay between initial report and start of successful fire suppression.
In the 2 years since the fire, House of Pizza has re-opened, next door to where it once was located.
It bought the former Presbyterian College book store and off-campus student center building — that more-recently-updated building’s firewalls generally were credited with hindering the fast-spreading fire until Clinton, Joanna, Laurens, and neighboring fire departments could get the inferno under control.
The City has installed a new, red fire hydrant within a few feet of the House of Pizza, and the “hole” on Musgrove Street.
LEFT: Black smoke rises over Clinton on August 27, 2024. -- Chronicle File Photo
