Debris fire spreads; the quick response saves two houses
Firefighters put out debris fire after saving nearby homes
The quick response of the Flomaton Fire Department is credited for saving two homes after a debris-burning fire got out of hand Friday afternoon.
Flomaton received a 911 call at 1:38 p.m. Friday of a house fire at 570 Beasley Dixon Road and Flomaton firemen arrived on the scene at 1:42 p.m.
Flomaton Fire Chief Steve Stanton, who was out of town, said the firemen did what they were trained to do and prevented the flames from engulfing a house and a mobile home. Firefighters from Flomaton, Century and Lambeth responded and were able to contained the fire.
Stanton said the house and the mobile home were 'charred' on the outside but are still liveable and families have moved back in. He noted the flames melted the siding off the mobile home.
"Flomaton is fortunate to have such a good volunteer fire department," said Flomaton Police Chief Chance Thompson. "If they had arrived about five minutes later those houses would have likely burned down."
Stanton said the blaze began with a small debris fire being done by someone hired by the families to clean up the property. He said the wind carried the fire to a nearby pile of construction debris that caused the fire to spread.
"Our first priority was to save the two houses on fire," Stanton said.
He also noted the fire is still under investigation.
