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(Philip Allan & Tommy Horan)
Afternoon Fire on 3rd Street in Magee
Saturday afternoon, April 21st, a house fire occurred at 603 3rd Street NW. (near the Broadhead apartments).
According to Assistant Fire Chief Chris Tuggle, the fire was extremely hot—and fully engulfed. The homeowner was taken by AMR to Magee General Hospital for smoke inhalation.
The home received damage both interior and exterior.
Surrounding residents reported hearing gun shots. The noise was from ammunition located in the home. Fireman Chris Tuggle explained that when the temperature reaches a certain degree in a house, the ammo will explode but it does not travel in a direct hit such as a bullet in a gun. Aerosol cans explode as well as gas cans. The bullet sounds the public heard came from inside the house during the fire.
Mims Mitchell Funeral Home
Later Saturday afternoon, a fire was reported at the old Mims Mitchell Funeral Home located near the Railroad tracks on Main Street. A citizen contacted the Magee Police Department reporting a fire was located at the back of the building near the “drive thru” area of the facility. The quick reporting time of the citizen and fire department response avoided a potentially serious situation.
The upper part of the funeral home (which is mainly used for storage) is made of heart pine. Dean Dukes manager of Colonial Chapel and Mims Mitchell Funeral Homes in Magee stated, “ if that fire had gotten into the top of the funeral home…we would have had a bad situation…that pine would have burned quickly and been difficult to extinguish. Dukes complimented the Magee Fire Department and Magee Police Department on their response time, skills in extinguishing the fire, and managing the traffic.
The building received very little damage.
