Baldwin County crews dispatched three times to fire at Fairhope McDonald’s
By Ahniaelyah Spraggs
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FAIRHOPE, Alabama (WALA) — A popular restaurant in Fairhope was destroyed by a fire on Thanksgiving.
Early Friday morning as the sun rose in Fairhope, police tape, shattered glass and debris were seen in the parking lot of the McDonald’s on Greeno Road North.
The restaurant is usually packed, but the sight of the building, with its roof now caved in, shocks regular customers like Darryl Nelson.
“Sad. It’s sad when something like this happens,” said Nelson.
Nelson says the restaurant was run by friendly managers. He describes the managers as, “Good people. Liked all the people that came in, especially the elderly people.”
After watching footage of the fire on Facebook, Nelson drove to the restaurant to see how bad the damage was.
Fairhope Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief Chris Ellis says the initial call came in around 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
” Crews got here, made an aggressive attack and knocked everything down,” said Chief Ellis. “When we left at 7:30, there was no smoke or fire.”
But, hours later, crews received a second call at 9 p.m. Video from a viewer shows how massive the flames were at that time and how heavy the smoke was. Around 9am Friday morning, I called 911 myself after noticing some heavy smoke once again coming from the roof.
“The roof has collapsed,” Chief Ellis explains. “So there’s going to be pockets of heat that pop up from time to time, unfortunately.”
Chief Ellis says crews from Fairhope, Daphne, Spanish Fort, Marlow and Silverhill responded. Chief Ellis could says there were staff inside when the fire started, but thanks to the efforts made by each agency, no one was injured. As for what caused this fire… That’s still under investigation.
“Building’s a total loss but I can’t say enough about the hard work of the crews,” said Chief Ellis.
Chief Ellis says crews will continue to monitor the building to ensure the fire is actually out.
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