Fire guts Burrito Loco at South of the Border, no injuries

The fire at Burrito Loco did more than damage a building. It shut down a dining room at South of the Border, the kind of roadside stop that lives on interstate traffic, quick-turn meals and steady nightly sales, and left the restaurant’s reopening timeline unclear after flames tore through the old taco spot.

The blaze broke out Sunday night, April 26, 2026, at the restaurant in Hamer, South Carolina, just off Interstate 95 near the North Carolina state line. South of the Border security discovered the fire around 9:15 p.m. and began trying to put it out before calling 911, according to owner Ryan Schafer, who was out of town when it started. Dillon County Fire Department crews responded about 9:30 p.m. to the commercial structure fire and found flames coming through the roof.

Firefighters from Dillon County Fire Station 4 and Station 1 were on the scene, along with the Rowland Fire Department, Dillon County EMS and about 20 volunteers. Crews brought the flames under control in roughly two hours, and no injuries were reported. The cause has not been determined. A local report said the fire rekindled around 2:30 a.m. and destroyed the remaining structure, underscoring how a fire that looked contained can still wipe out what is left of a restaurant before morning.

For workers at a place like Burrito Loco, the damage goes beyond the building shell. A fire like this can instantly eliminate shifts, cut off tip income for servers and bartenders, and force managers to decide whether employees can be reassigned to other parts of the sprawling South of the Border complex or sent home until insurance, cleanup and rebuilding plans are sorted out. The uncertainty is especially hard in a business built on volume and consistency, where one closed restaurant can ripple through the rest of the property’s food and labor schedule.

South of the Border has been a landmark on I-95 for decades. Alan Schafer opened it in January 1950 as a one-room beer depot, and the stop grew into a sprawling complex with restaurants, shops, lodging and other attractions. The loss of Burrito Loco, formerly known as The Hot Tamale, adds a visible hit to a property that has long sold itself as part pit stop, part destination. For now, the burned restaurant stands as another reminder that in the restaurant business, one overnight fire can turn tomorrow’s service into a rebuilding problem.