By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
A Smith Dairy Road home was destroyed last Friday, July 1, when flames quickly swept through it as firefighters rushed to the rural site.
Atmore Fire Department units were dispatched at 2:12 a.m. to the fire, roughly10 miles northwest of Atmore. They arrived to find a hot, “rolling” fire that was quickly consuming the house’s wood framing and its roof.
“It was rocking and rolling when we got there,” said a firefighter, who added that the flames could be seen from “about five or six miles away.”
Compounding the problem was the absence of any fire hydrants near the dwelling.
City firefighters were assisted by city police, as well as by tanker units from Nokomis Volunteer Fire Department and Escambia County (Fla.) Fire Rescue and by a Poarch Creek Indians Fire Departments tanker and fire engine.
The aggregation of firefighters battled the blaze for nearly three hours, finally rolling up their last hoses and clearing the scene at 5:20 a.m.
According to reports, the family who lived there was not home, although several pets were. None of the animals were injured.
The fire’s cause had not been determined as midweek approached.
Rough first day
Barely five hours earlier, on June 30, city firefighters had been sent to a Presley Street address, where a kitchen fire was reported.
AFD reports show that a “possible electric short” caused minor damage to the home, into which the occupying family had just moved that morning from an out-of-state location.
Firefighters were able to contain the damage to the kitchen area.