Across the Area

Fish tank fire damages medical center office

A medical center in Columbia County was damaged Saturday morning after a fish tank in the waiting area caught fire.

Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue responded to a fire alarm at 10:20 a.m. inside the Center for Primary Care at Crossroads off Jimmie Dyess Parkway.

The sprinkler system above the tank extinguished most of the fire, said Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue Capt. Ray Blessing.

The building received minimal fire damage, but there was substantial water damage that was mainly confined to the waiting area on the first floor, he said.

The cause of the fire was unknown, Capt. Blessing said. No one was in the building at the time of the fire, he said.

4-month-old's death will be investigated

Aiken County officials are investigating Saturday's death of a 4-month-old baby.

The Aiken County Sheriff's Office responded to a call from a man in the 200 block of Green Acres Park Lane in Warrenville who said the infant was in a bed unresponsive, according to a sheriff's office news release.

Emergency workers took the child to Medical College of Georgia Hospital.

An autopsy is planned today in Newberry, S.C.

No other information was provided.

Wreck backs up traffic on interstate for mile

A two-vehicle wreck on Interstate 20 in Aiken County on Saturday caused a backup of traffic but no deaths, authorities said.

The wreck was reported at 2:47 p.m. at mile marker 20 eastbound, according to a South Carolina Highway Patrol traffic information Web site.

The wreck, about two miles west of the Aiken-Ridge Spring exit, involved a transfer truck and a pickup.

At one point, traffic was backed up for about a mile in the eastbound lanes. Vehicles were diverted through a commercial vehicle parking area and back onto the interstate beyond the wreck.