Alan Mauldin – The Albany Herald, Ga.
ALBANY – Albany firefighters battled into the evening to extinguish a fire that consumed an abandoned commercial building near the intersection of North Slappey Boulevard and Eighth Avenue on Wednesday afternoon.
First responders closed North Slappey Boulevard for a brief period during the afternoon when the smoke was at its thickest at the site. The call for service came in at about 1:45 p.m., Albany Fire Department Capt. Marion Covin said.
The Eighth Avenue Professional Building, located west of the O’Reilly Auto Parts building, was still billowing smoke at 4:30 p.m. and small flickers of flames could be seen periodically at the roof as firefighters poured water on the building from two aerial boom trucks.
Firefighters on the ground also were using multiple hoses to douse the building.
The heavy winds throughout the afternoon hindered extinguishing the blaze, said Covin, who was the battalion chief at the scene.
“The wind effect is working dead against us, increasing the flames, increasing the burn,” he said. “As soon as we put it out, it rekindles. The wind is not our friend.”
There also was a heavy “fire load” of materials inside the building, Covin said.
The wind also scent the smell of the smoke all over the city.
As the six crews working at the scene had been battling the fire for several hours, the fire captain expected units from stations located out in the county to be called in to relieve them.
“It’s fully involved,” he said. “We’re still going to be here for a while.”
No cause for the blaze had been identified so far at the scene.
No injuries had reported at the site, Albany Emergency Medical Service Director Sam Allen said.
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