Former Port Wentworth mayor dies at 91 following house fire

BLUFFTON, S.C (WTOC) - A Bluffton house fire turned deadly Saturday, claiming the life of a 91-year-old Cleveland Fountain who died at the hospital.

“The neighbors called. They heard a pop and they looked outside and she called me and she said Dale your Daddy’s house is on fire.”

Herrington says her father made it halfway out of his house and was pulled the rest of the way out by neighbors. From there first responders would take him to Memorial Hospital in Savannah.

“I leaned over and I said Daddy I love you, and um I said we’re going to go on to glory land because that’s what he called it or the happy hunting ground and I saw a little tear come out of his good eye.”

It’s heartbreaking to hear, yet she’s proud of the life her father lived saying he accomplished a lot.

“1968 he became mayor of Port Wentworth and then in the 1970s he ran to be the county commissioner for the 7th district and won.”

Beyond his public service, Herrington says the most important thing about her father was what he was most proud of being the first great-great-grandfather his family had seen.

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