Haleyville Lumber & Supply destroyed by fire

HALEYVILLE - A massive five alarm blaze consumed the office area of the well known and longstanding Haleyville Lumber and Supply business in the late hours of Wednesday, Nov. 28, into the early morning hours of Thursday, Nov. 29.
The fire alarm first went off around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, bringing response from Haleyville, Bear Creek, Craft, Pebble and Delmar fire departments. Authorities arrived to find black smoke billowing from the eaves of the brick office structure, which was covered with a metal roof.
The metal roof held in the heat and flames, which were often visible from the back of the structure, until around 11 p.m., when flames broke through windows and the fire reached air, causing a massive eruption of fire. The blaze actually destroyed the original structure  built in 1945 and an addition built in 1977, authorities on the scene said.
Haleyville firemen used their ladder truck, which was parked on Alabama Avenue with ladder extended over the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks spraying water down onto the structure located on the other side. Fire trucks with lights flashing lined up on the steep road leading down to the business, and firefighters went back and forth hauling hoses and battling the flames, even into the early morning hours.
Norfolk Southern was alerted to halt any trains coming through town on those tracks for a while, due to firefighters having to cross the tracks in order to access the blaze.  Trains were allowed to resume after midnight. The loss of supplies and inventory at Haleyville Lumber and Supply had not been officially determined.