Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Minutes after 7 p.m. Tuesday night, orange smoke filled the air of downtown Selma so much that residents in the city started to get curious and wonder where the array of the smoke was coming from.

Moments later, a couple of residents within the city drove their cars from the street of J.L. Chestnut Jr. Boulevard to a side street leading to Mabry Street, which is located on the other side of the railroad tracks from the old Knox Academy school building.

As the residents were approaching closer, the array of smoke was too, and the burning structure that caught on fire was located just over the railroad track in between Mabry Street and Griffin Avenue, on the 1200 block of Tremont Street, where an abandoned multi-unit apartment building caught fire late Tuesday night.

“Thankfully, there were no injuries or fatalities reported,” according to The Selma Fire Department.

Interim Fire Chief Coley Byrd said it took about fours to get the fire extinguished and the responding units that were available to assist on the horrific blaze included three fire engines, the ladder truck and a Selma Shift Commander.

The department said the suppression of the fire was mainly done by their Ladder-3 unit due to the size and intensity of the fire which led to the Selma Fire Department recognizing and applauding all that were involved.

“It was a large structure,” Byrd said. “In fact, they did an outstanding job. It was fully involved when we arrived on scene and the majority of the firefighting was done with the ladder truck.”

Byrd said the fire attack regarding the unoccupied structure was considered as defensive which led to them actively fighting the fire on the outside of the structure instead of the inside. The fire is actively under investigation as officials said they are unsure of what the cause is at this time.

However, Byrd said during this cold weather season, he just wants to remind citizens to keep combustibles at a minimum of three feet away from heaters and depending on the type of heaters residents have, he said the best recommendation is to look at the manufactured recommendations on just how far to keep combustibles away in your home because he said that’s how a lot of fires start annually because people put combustible material too close to heaters.

Byrd said this is considered the third fire of the year for the department and he said himself along with the fire department will continue to promptly respond to calls as they arise.