By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Authorities are blaming an electrical short for a Wednesday, January 22, fire that started in the attic of one Point Escambia Apartments unit and spread to an adjoining unit, effectively destroying the interiors of both and rendering them uninhabitable.
According to Atmore Fire Department reports, city firefighters were dispatched to the complex, just off Col. Farris Drive, at 3:12 a.m. They fought the twin blazes as icy winds, on top of subfreezing temperatures, created single-digit chill factors. AFD personnel were able to gain control, and they cleared the scene around 4:30 a.m.
“It was windy, and it was extremely cold,” recounted Fire Chief Ronald Peebles. “An electrical fire set the attic of one apartment on fire. The fire breached the firewall between the two apartments and spread into the second apartment’s attic. They were both pretty much a total loss.”
AFD personnel barely had time to fall back into their bunks before they were called back to the apartment complex at 6:26 a.m., when flames flared back up. They fought the second blaze for another hour before finally gaining total control.
Both units were occupied, and both occupants got out safely. Each was reportedly taken by an American Red Cross representative to a local church’s shelter while temporary living arrangements were worked out.
The fire created a second drama, however, as one of the apartment dwellers requires daily dialysis treatment, and that person’s machine was destroyed by the combination of flames, smoke and water.
Peebles said the Red Cross and Point Escambia management worked quickly and tirelessly to remedy the problem, one with which he is personally familiar.
“I knew how bad the situation was, because two of my brothers are on — or were on — home dialysis,” the fire chief said. “The folks at Red Cross and the management of the apartment complex did a heck of a job in getting her fixed up. They worked really hard to get her a new machine set up and find both of them somewhere to go.
“Everybody that had a hand in it did a heck of a job.”