PELL CITY – The Avondale Mills fire Thursday attracted not only local residents but people from miles away, curious to find the origin of the huge plume of black smoke that filled the sky. “I was actually in Odenville when I saw the smoke,” said Roger Nielsen of Odenville. “I just called my wife in Trussville, and she said she could see it. … I had to come up here to see what it was – it’s amazing.”
The monster fire, which ravaged one of the oldest landmarks in Pell City, was not only a spectacle for many people but an emotional experience. People watched as the building, which played an important part of Pell City for more than 100 years, was destroyed by blaze.
“I was born and raised in that house over there,” Lamont Rich said as he witnessed the destruction of the Avondale Mills plant. “I’ve been here all my life. Both my parents worked all their lives in there.”
Rich said he lives in Coal City now and was three miles away when he saw the cloud of black smoke in the sky. He drove to Pell City only to find memories up in flames.
“I remember when the Avondale Mills school sat right there,” he said pointing to an empty field.
His first job as a youth was with Avondale Mills.
“Those years were one of the greatest times of my life,” he said.
Michael Hannah, 47, of Cook Springs spotted the smoke when he was driving along Interstate 20 near the Chula Vista exit.
“I knew they were going to tear it down,” he said. “I didn’t know they were going to burn it down.”
Pell City Fire Chief Mike Sewell said the fire was actually an accident. Welders were removing steel beams from the rafters when cotton lint inside metal ductwork ignited. The fire spread to the tar-and-gravel rooftop before anyone was aware of the blaze.
By the time workers became aware of the fire, it was too late.
Jerry Myers of Pell City said he was in Wattsville when he saw the smoke in the sky.
“Boy, that’s a fire there, isn’t it?” Myers said as he watched the Avondale Mills plant continue to burn.
Allen Graham of Pell City said he saw the smoke from two miles away.
“Number one, I hope nobody got hurt,” Graham said. “Number two, it’s such a waste.”
He said materials from the plant were going to be used again for the good of someone else. There would have been no waste of the materials, and the work provided jobs for local laborers.
“I just hate to see it burn up, something that was creating jobs,” Graham said. “Now they’re out of work.”
Even though many of the roads were closed around the Avondale Mills Plant site, traffic was congested with onlookers for most of the day.
Sewell said he was unsure when roads surrounding the plant would re-open to traffic.
