Crews work through wreckage after Alabama dock fire kills 8
Recovery and cleanup crews worked through foggy weather Tuesday after a fire torched an Alabama dock, killing at least eight people and scorching almost three dozen boats.
The blaze broke out early Monday in Scottsboro at a dock that housed boats, houseboats and pontoon vessels.
Scottsboro Fire Chief Gene Necklaus said that the death toll could rise.
He said it does not appear that pollution fed into the Tennessee River.
How many boats burned?
At least 35 vessels burned. Some boats sank at the dock while others drifted from their moorings and sank, Necklaus said. The fire broke out on the inland side of the dock, making rescues difficult, he said.
Seven people were pulled from the cold water and treated for minor injuries, Necklaus said.
What was the scene like?
Julie Jackson has lived in a boat at the docks with her husband and child for five years.
Monday, they awoke to a crackling sound. By the time she got off her boat to look, the fire had engulfed half of the dock.
“I could hear people screaming, ‘Help me,’ ” she told The Gadsden Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. “I never want to go through anything like that again.”
Mandy Durham and her boyfriend woke up to the sounds of pops. “We could see red through the window,” she said.
She said she saw people leap into the water after a boat ignited at the end of the dock.
“Water was the only place they had to go,” Durham said.
What’s next in the investigation?
It could take several days to find all the boats and account for the missing people, said Jackson County Chief Sheriff ’s Deputy Rocky Harnen.
Authorities have not said what caused the fire.