Hale County Community Needs Help To Rebuild From Fire
The blaze had fully evolved two homes when the first fire units arrived Saturday and it didn't take long for the windy conditions to spread the flames in the Oak Village Community of Hale County. Two homes ended up being total losses and three others were damaged.
As investigators continue to seek a cause, impacted residents of the small, unincorporated community near Akron are attempting to put their lives back together. Sandy Rowland is one of them, the grandmother made it out of her home with only the clothes on her back according to one of her grandchildren Chase Kelly.
"The fire destroyed the house and everything inside," Kelly wrote on a GoFundMe page. "Clothes, furniture, personal belongings, and the place she had called home for the last 40 years are all gone."
Kelly started the GoFundMe account to assist with clothing and personal items, temporary housing, food and essentials. The goal is to raise at least $5,000 and right now they are at less than $1,000.
Kelly says everything is being done to assist Sandy but losing everything is going to make it difficult mentally and emotionally.
The impacted area is located on Oak Grove Road which has several mobile homes damaged and destroyed in a tornado in 2023.
Six different agencies responded to the conflagration as it spread. It took some two hours to bring the fires under control as volunteer firefighters from Moundville, Sawyerville, Greensboro, and the Alabama Forestry Commission fought to keep the fire from spreading further. Hale County EMA and the Hale County Sheriff's Department also responded in sub-freezing weather.
Hale County EMA Director Russell Weeden thanked the men and women who battled the blaze in such extreme weather conditions. He says had they not been so dedicated the three homes damaged may have been completed lost as well.
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