Firemen keep blaze contained

When Flomaton firemen first arrived on the scene Monday afternoon for a structure fire on Martin Luther King Drive, the abandoned house was fully involved and efforts quickly turned to preventing the fire from spreading to other structures in the area.

Flomaton Fire Chief Steve Stanton said the fire department received a 911 call at 1:12 p.m. and as firemen headed that way they could see a cloud of black smoke in the air.

Stanton said when firemen arrived, the abandoned house at 915 Martin Luther King Drive, which was being used for storage was in full flames. The blaze had already spread to nearby utility poles, which firemen quickly extinguished.

Although firemen attacked the burning building, they also turned their attention to a double-wide mobile home next to the burning building in an attempt to keep the fire from spreading.

Due to it being a structure fire, firemen from Friendship, Century, Jay and Pineview responded.

Stanton said the firemen had the blaze under control in about 30 minutes as the burning home began to collapse.

The home, owned by Holly Bell Williams, had not electrical power. Stanton added that the cause of the blaze is undetermined at this time.