SC Firefighter Paul Quattlebaum ID’d As Victim In Friday Fatal On-Duty Lexington Vehicle Strike

LEXINGTON, SC. (THECOUNT) — Paul Quattlebaum has been identified as the on-duty Lexington County firefighter fatally struck by a truck while on-foot assisting victims at a Batesburg-Leesville crash scene Friday, according to reports.

Quattlebaum, 51, arrived to the scene of a vehicle collision around 3:30 p.m. Friday. At some point after he exited the vehicle, he was struck and killed by a passing semi-truck.

The first responder was transported from the scene to an area hospital where he was later pronounced dead of blunt force trauma injuries.

The fire service said the Lexington County Fire Service Fire Engineer was a 22-year veteran of the agency.

He was most recently based out of Station 27 serving the residents in the Samaria area.

Quattlebaum is from Batesburg-Leesville, and began with the agency as a volunteer firefighter in 1997. He became full-time in 2000, and was promoted to fire engineer in 2002. From October 2017 to March 2018 he also served as a ride-up captain, which is when a fire engineer serves in the roll of a captain when others are off duty, reports WFMY.

Quattlebaum had also been a lance corporal in the United States Marine Corps, serving as a field-radio operator from 1992 to 1994. He received a medical discharge due to injury.

The crash remains under investigation.

Geo quick facts: Batesburg-Leesville is a town in Lexington and Saluda counties, South Carolina United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town’s population was 5,385 in 2018, up from 5,362 at the 2010 census. Lexington is the largest town in and the county seat of Lexington County, South Carolina, United States. Lexington is a suburb of the state’s capital and second-largest city, Columbia. The population is 17,870 at the 2010 Census and it is the second-largest municipality in the greater Columbia area. South Carolina is a southeastern U.S. state known for its shoreline of subtropical beaches and marshlike sea islands. Coastal Charleston is a historic city, defined by pastel-colored houses, Old South plantations and Fort Sumter, where the Civil War’s opening shots were fired. To the north is the Grand Strand, a roughly 60-mile stretch of beachfront known for golf courses and the vacation town Myrtle Beach – Wikipedia.