Gulf Shores Swamp Fire

Alabama Gulf Shores A massive fire in Gulf Shores had little to do with celebrating the Fourth of July.

by Debbie Williams

Published: Mon, July 07, 2008 - 4:28 pm CST

A massive fire in Gulf Shores had little to do with celebrating the Fourth of July. Investigators say it did have something to do with fireworks.
It burned brighter and longer than any Fourth of July fireworks display. "It burned the east end of the south state park lands."
Amateur video captures what thousands watched from their back decks, their balconies and their cars. "There was two flares that was spotted being shot into the air during the fireworks show. One which I witnessed which was a green flares that went up, a parachute type flares," says Gulf Shores Fire Marshal Keith Martin.
Steve Dagro saw it from Luxury RV Park. "I even told my brother and some other people standing around if that flare comes down like it is and lands on top of one of these rubber roofs, it's not going to be a pretty sight."
Martin says there was reports of two flares, "The only one I saw was a green flare and it floated down and we made the comment at the time we hope it didn't go down in the bog here, but it did."
Acres of state park land was scorched. "If the wind had changed we would have been in trouble over here," says Jim Fitch who watched as the flames headed towards his house. "You could see how the wind was blowing it. Probably flames I guess 10 to 15 feet high and like a wave moving down through there."
The last time the swamp burned was about ten years ago and ironically around the fourth of July. That fire was worse, but this one was bad enough. Fire Marshal Keith Martin is still looking for any clue that will tell him who did it. "Whether the person did this out of fun or malice, whatever their reasoning was for firing that type of a flare near people and near this type of vegetation, it's beyond me why they would do it."
Fireworks are illegal in the city of Gulf Shores. Martin says it looks like next year, he'll have to add flares to that list.
The fire threatened several homes on East Second Street and a substation that supplies the east end of Pleasure Island with electricity. Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call the Gulf Shores Police Department at 251-968-2431.

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