Hair Salon near West Ashley, SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — New details are emerging on a deadly fire that ripped through a West Ashley apartment complex, killing one person and leaving more than 20 neighbors displaced.

The Charleston County coroner identified the victim as 57-year-old Rachel Fitzpatrick. News 4 is also learning about the neighbors who are now picking up the pieces, and how the Red Cross and the community are stepping up to help.

This donation drive started at 4 p.m. Monday and continued to 7 p.m. They are collecting gift cards and immediate personal care items for the victims of the fire. One resident, Megan Vettraino, moved here from Wisconsin just a couple of months ago to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher. Now, she's left with nothing. Despite the setback, she remains upbeat.

"It's insane how not a single thing is left," she said. "We got hit, rear-ended by this drunk driver, went into a ditch, and we were on the site for probably like three hours."

That's when she got another call she'll never forget.

"I'm sitting in the cop's car, and I get the call asking if I'm home at my apartment," she recalled. "I was like, 'No, why? What's going on?' They told me that it was on fire."

Looking over the damage, she points out how some of her furniture can still be seen.

"My couch was right along the far back wall," she noted. "You can actually still see my TV. Part of it is still hanging on behind the fireplace here."

She's thankful for her new community, even amid the disaster.

"I have loved living here," she said. "It's just very surreal to see all the memories that I've made in the last month, and then be here looking at what's left of it."

Neighbor Karla Gill says the Middleton Cove Apartment residents are like a family.

"There's a very strong community in these apartments," Gill said. "Even if we don't know each other's name, we will always watch for the other one."

Strangely, Vettraino believes the accident earlier in the night may have saved her life.

"If the accident didn't happen, I would've been sound asleep," she said. "So as awful as the accident was, I think in some way it did save my life."

Now, as she embarks on her new life as a teacher, she's thankful.

"I am very grateful for all the memories I did have in that apartment," she said. "And I know there will be many more to come in a new apartment. God always has a plan in place. Everything is going to work out, even. Charleston, this whole community is so amazing."

A GoFundMe for Megan Vettraino has been organized. Other residents have also set up GoFundMe pages to support their rebuild. To donate to Heather and her family, click here. A link to Isaac Camp's GoFundMe is available here. And a link to Destiny Chandler can be found here.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — Miss Harper broke through the dense clay-like material on Friday after spending 11 months, 130 feet below West Ashley.

Miss Harper is the name of the tunnel boring machine that carved out a 20,000-foot passageway spanning one end of West Ashley to the other.

Cliff Surrells is the man behind the wheel of Miss Harper during the day.

He now sits in the opening in between the teeth of the powered-down tunnel boring machine, or TBM, with a big smile on his face.

Despite the team working 20 hours a day underground in tight and hot conditions, Surrells downplays the efforts in a way that only a blue-collar veteran can.

“How hard was this? It’s not hard at all. I’ve been doing this for 36 years,” Surrells said. “I love it. It’s a challenging machine, but I love mining. I love driving this TBM.”

The project finished early and under its $135 million budget. SAK Construction Foreman Travis Lynch says the project was executed about as flawlessly as possible.

“As we are mining through, as long as the ground is good, we can mine like crazy. We hit one spot that was about 1,000 feet of wet ground. That slowed us down, but other than that, it’s just repetition,” Lynch said. “Everybody worked hard. It took everybody to get this finish.”

Sometimes the construction crews find interesting things buried in earth no one has ever touched, but Lynch says there was nothing of note running through the Cooper Marl they bore through with the exception of a few large shark teeth.

Officially, the project is called the West Ashley Sewer Tunnel Extension project, and it’s the Charleston Water System’s solution to the spike in population and, perhaps most importantly, the sewage overflows that are common during heavy rain.

“It’s going to be transformational for West Ashley in that it will eliminate sanitary sewer overflows and give us relief with a very environmentally friendly project,” said Kathleen Wilson, the vice chair of the Charleston Water System Board of Commissioners. “This is by far the largest and probably the most important. . . in CWS history.”

The tunnel will not carry stormwater, but because of the patchwork of pipes CWS inherited, faults in those existing constructions allow stormwater to flow into the sewage system during major rain events.

That is what creates sewage overflows and the resulting environmental concerns.

The sheer size of the new tunnel will fix that issue since it will be capable of handling the normal sewage and whatever stormwater may flow into the system through old pipes.

With a capacity of 60 million gallons a day, it will end up carrying all of the sewage from West Ashley, Johns Island, Hollywood, Ravenel and Meggett to the Plum Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Communications Director Mike Saia says the infrastructure will never run out of capacity and could still be in service 100 years from now.

The boring part is done—pun intended—but it will likely still be another year and a half before the pipe is operational.

The next step is to add and connect 5-foot-wide pipes starting from the middle of the tunnel and working toward either end. The area between the pipes and the tunnel will then be filled with grout to seal everything in.

Once all of that is done, divers will enter the existing sewage pipes and open up bulkheads to connect the new and old systems.

Outside of the tunnel, CWS has also built a series of screening facilities that will ensure capacity never drops.

The buildings are crewed by CWS employees whose job it is to use large rake-like tools to remove non-flushable items that routinely clog pipes, destroy sewage systems and cause backups. Those items are things like baby wipes, tampons and condoms.

Saia says these are all parts of a much larger puzzle to stop sewage overflows and provide reliable service.

Copyright 2026 WCSC. All rights reserved.

WEST ASHLEY — West Ashley is getting some amore when it comes to dining experiences.

Joe Walker, owner of Cafe Roca and The Corner Shop in West Ashley, is finally completing his trifecta of new food businesses along Ashley River Road with an Italian restaurant.

The area’s been without one for more than five years when local favorite Al Di La abruptly shut its doors after two decades.

Walker’s eyeing an August opening for Bad Bambino, its sign already posted and lit up, igniting curiosity from passersby daily.

The restaurateur sees the new venture, which will slip into the former Taco Bartina spot across from Home Team, as complementary to his Cafe Roca breakfast restaurant that he opened next door in early 2025.

“It’s very date-night vibes,” Walker said of the walk-in only restaurant.

Whereas Cafe Roca is light and airy and open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, Bad Bambino with its 35 seats would have a darker ambiance and operate 4-10 p.m., he said.

“Someone could come there twice a day and have a morning experience and a night experience,” Walker said with a laugh.

While the menu isn’t finalized, the chef is.

Will Cammer, former executive sous chef with Costa, has signed on to head up the kitchen, Walker said. Dinner offerings will be “much more simplified” and “straightforward” Italian favorites, such as chicken parmesan, Bolognese and alfredo.

“We’re also going to to do an upstate New York-style pizza, which is a square pizza, similar to grandma style,” Walker said.

To round out the dining experience, Bad Bambino will serve up a wine and beer bar with a nice wine program to keep things fresh, Walker said. He also plans for a heavy focus on take out, especially for people driving home on the busy corridor.

Other tenants in the Highway 61 retail center include Stuart Laurence Salon, Crew Lala dog boutique and — which Walker and his wife opened in September 2024.

Walker added The Corner Shop last summer in the end cap at 1301-A Ashley River Road, selling beer and wine, gourmet grab-and-go meals from local vendors like , and food items from ., a local jam maker and more.

“Bad Bambino represents the last piece of the puzzle in that strip center,” he said.

The nighborhood gem features fine-dining fare and weekly brunch specials

The Lick

For years, the best tables in town sat on the far side of the river, and West Ashley made the drive. The Lick, a small, handsome room that slipped into the old YoBo Cantina space in the South Windermere Center this winter, was created to end the commute. As an inviting neighborhood spot, it largely earns its keep. It’s less destination dining than local gem—a romantic little haunt long missing from this part of town.

Owner Christopher Betros built the room to reward lingering: low leather seating, mirrored walls, and a bar that draws focus the moment you step in. His chef, Chris Johnston, arrives by way of kitchens in Chicago, Baltimore, and points between, and the menu reaches high. A long roster of dry-aged and Wagyu cuts aims squarely at the fine-dining tier, yet some of the menu’s most satisfying dishes are lower on the page.

Start with the deviled eggs, rich with jalapeño and a swipe of bacon jam. They pair perfectly with the burger, a juicy house blend topped with American cheese and a tangy sauce; the accompanying tumble of beef tallow fries nearly upstages it. But the kitchen’s quiet triumph is the risotto: spring peas and wild mushrooms folded into a creamy base, lifted by tomato confit and a bright spring onion vinaigrette.

The small bar slings a bevy of accomplished cocktails. The Negroni lands with textbook bittersweet balance. An afternoon perch at the rail with a drink and a few friends is the place at its best.

Word has gotten out: reservations disappear quickly, and Sunday brunch and weekly specials have joined the mix. The Lick won’t dethrone the peninsula’s best, but it doesn’t need to. Old Windermere finally has a place worth staying home for.

10 Windermere Blvd. (843) 974-3462 www.thelickchs.com Dinner nightly; lunch on Friday & Saturday; brunch on Sunday