LODD 360 - FIF002
Charleston, South Carolina
"May the lessons learned from a truthful and complete analysis of this incident prevent future tragedies"
- Charleston City Report
William H. "Billy" Hutchinson, III – Captain 19
Captain Billy Hutchinson was 48 years old. He was a Captain with 30 years service. To friends, Fire Captain William "Billy" Hutchinson was a good-natured man and a sports enthusiast who at age 48 still loved to play golf and shoot hoops. But to fellow firefighters, he was the go-to guy for haircuts. At $2 a pop, it was a skill carried over from his second job at Williams Barber Shop in Goose Creek. He was known as an all-around, super-nice guy, and a super firefighter. Hutchinson worked out of fire stations in downtown and West Ashley, most recently at Station 19 on Ashley Hall Plantation Road. "He never had a harsh word to say about anybody, and you couldn't argue with the guy because he'd agree with you. He was a (practical) joker, like most firefighters tend to be," noted a co-worker. "His nickname was 'Lightning,' because he didn't move fast unless there was a fire. We gave him that nickname when he first came on the job here," a friend said. Hutchinson played football and baseball for Middleton High School in the mid-1970s, and basketball for the church league and fire department teams. "We were good," insists Hutchinson's brother, Randy Hutchinson, a former firefighter himself, who played on sports teams with Billy. Randy last saw his brother a few weekends before the fire, when they went jet-skiing. He said Billy was married to Phyllis Hutchinson and had three children,
including twin daughters.
- Charleston City Report
