It’s a good thing that Caprice Curtis, Elizabeth Barnett and Mattie Lumpkin had to work late Saturday night.

The women, who work at Bill’s Dollar Store on Alabama Avenue, normally get off at 6, but left about 30 minutes late. They left the building just in time to see that On Time Fashions across the street was in flames. They immediately doubled back, with Curtis calling the fire department.

The fire was mostly contained to the second floor according to Zuher Davit, who owns the store. There was some fire and smoke in the attic and smoke on the first floor.

No one was injured in the fire, and the store was believed to have been empty at the time the blaze started.

Smoke poured out across downtown Selma, clouding the streets and bringing traffic on the surround streets to a crawl. Spectators grabbed children and headed for the safety of their cars to watch as flames shot out the second floor on the back side.

Roger Butler, owner of Roger Butler Jewelers, watched on the corner outside of Bill’s Dollar Store as fire devoured the place where he worked as a teen-ager more than half a century ago.

Back then, it was known as Barton Department Store, owned by Sol, Sam and Morris Barton. Butler described the building as being two-storied, with a basement.

Men’s, boys’ and shoe departments were located on the right side of the building while women’s clothing was on the left. The basement was home to the store’s bargin department.

The second floor used to have large windows that let in a lot of light, Butler said. Now, the windows are bricked up to where only a small amount of light is let in through square windows.

Selma City Councilwoman Jean Martin said that she talked to several people on Saturday night and they all said that the building was well over 100 years old.