Parkway Pharmacy Destroyed By Fire

Arab firefighters Jason Brannon and Brody Potter place a piercing nozzle through the roof of the Parkway Pharmacy in an attempt to fight the fire from above. The nozzle is used to pierce through a solid surface and then sprays a wide circle of water onto the area underneath the nozzle.

April 22, 2010
Fire completely destroyed the interior of a long established pharmacy business in Arab around noon Thursday. Parkway Pharmacy owner Terry Bennett and employees barely had time to evacuate the building before a raging fire consumed the business and sent firefighters scrambling to contain the blaze. Employees said everything had seemed normal until they began to smell smoke. Within minutes smoke began to pour from the ceiling and south wall of the building. As everyone scrambled to safety, the ceiling on the north side of the building was beginning to fall. Everyone was able to escape the building without injury.

The first call reporting the fire came into the Marshall County E911 call center at 11:30 a.m. Within seconds the center received more than 10 calls. Off duty Arab firefighter Tim Bailey was sitting in the drive through lane of Burger King when he happened to look north toward the pharmacy. "Smoke was pouring from the building so I called the station to alert the chief." Bailey said. AFD Fire Chief Ricky Phillips said he had just driven by the pharmacy less than five minutes earlier and everything appeared ok. "I was stunned when I looked out the window to see thick smoke pouring from the building," Phillips added. The first Arab fire units were on scene within about a minute. Phillips immediately sent out a call for additional assistance from other area fire departments. Fire units and personnel from Brindlee Mountain, Ruth, and Union Grove volunteer fire departments responded to the call. Samaritan EMS and Marshall Medical Center EMS sent ambulance units to standby during the fire. Approximately 50 firefighters, EMS, and police personnel responded to the fire.

By 12:40 pm firefighters reported the fire was under control and were working to knock down hot spots that threatened to re-ignite. Firefighters were still on scene around 3:30 pm as they performed salvage and recovery operations and began an investigation to determine the cause of the fire. Firefighters were prevented from making immediate entry into the building due to the danger from the burning pharmaceuticals and chemicals in the building. Captain Jerry Holmes of the Arab Fire Department said that all of the personnel from Arab and surrounding departments did a great job in fighting the blaze. No firefighters were injured during the fire. The building was secured around 3:45 pm and turned over to the Arab Police in order to secure the remaining drugs in the burned out building.

Parkway pharmacy is located at the intersection of Brindlee Mountain Parkway North and 6th Ave NW. The pharmacy is located in the building which previously housed the Pants Barn. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Bennett said

Click for a slide show of how firefighters fought this fire...