Sportsman Park loses 90-plus year old pavilion-lodge in last Thursday's blazes
Brewton firemen try to put out flames at Sportsman Park
The state fire marshal's office and the Brewton Police Department are investigating three back-to-back-to-back fires last Thursday morning with the first being called in shortly before 7 a.m. at Sportsman Park that destroyed the pavilion-lodge that has been there since the 1930s.
Brewton Fire Chief Jeff Salter said shortly after the fire at Sportsman Park, firemen were dispatched to an abandoned house on fire on Martin Luther King Drive and then to an old church on Dacus Street.
Salter said the three fires so close together took its toll on firemen with one being transported to the hopsital and two others treated on the scene for heat exhaustion.
Salter said from all indications the three fires were deliberately set. He said the fire marshal's office and the police were called and the investigation continues as to who is responsible. He also noted that other than the building at Sportsman Park, the other two structures did not have electricity.
Joe Watson, who serves as the scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 63 and is a member of the Sportsman Club, said the old building at the park was a total loss.
Watson said the old building had a lot of history and while a new structure can be built, a lot of history burned up last Thursday morning.
He said the building had old pictures from years in the past, flags and plaques the Boy Scouts had gathered over the past 50 years.
He said the building served as sort of a community center on Martin Luther King Drive for the neighborhood and the Sportsman Club was about to kick off its summer program.
"It knocked the wind out of me," Watson said of the fire. "It made me sick to my stomach. It's sad."
He said the building housed of a lot of events in the community, from Christmas pageants to other gatherings.
"We did a lot there," Watson said. "Why would someone destroy something like that?"
Watson said the Sportsman Club members have already met and have decided to build another building at the park.
"It's heartbreaking from the point of all the history that has been lost," Watson said. "Those things can't be replaced. But we're still there and we will all come back stronger."
Chief Salter is asking the community for help in identifying the person or persons who set the fires and asks if anyone has any information they need to call 251-867-7165, 251-867-3212 or their nearest law enforcement agency.
