Firefighters across the Chattahoochee Valley stayed busy throughout the Fourth of July, responding to numerous fire-related emergencies involving homes, vehicles, brush and other incidents as fireworks lit up the night sky.
While it remains unclear how many of the fires were caused by fireworks, departments across east Alabama and west Georgia handled a steady stream of calls from Saturday evening into the early morning hours of Sunday.
The first notable call came at 9:18 p.m. EDT when the Beauregard Volunteer Fire Department responded to reports of heavy black smoke in the area of Lee Road 165 and Lee Road 126. Firefighters arrived to find a controlled burn, with no structures or vehicles involved.
At 9:49 p.m., the Southwest Lee County Fire Department, Farmville Volunteer Fire Department and Auburn Fire Department responded to a structure fire in the 1800 block of Lee Road 57. Firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze.
Just minutes later, at 10:05 p.m., the Ladonia, Crawford and Uchee Creek volunteer fire departments were dispatched to a barn and equipment fire in the 100 block of Clark Road, off Sandfort Road. Crews remained on scene into the early morning hours of July 5 working to extinguish burning hay bales…