Mayday Called at AL House Fire

Fire swept through a Mt. Laurel home Wednesday morning during which two firefighters had to issue Mayday calls when they became lost and disoriented inside the burning house.

Cahaba Valley Fire, Hoover Fire and Chelsea Fire were dispatched just before 10:30 a.m. to the house on Nolen Street.

Cahaba Valley Battalion Chief John Roy said they received a 911 call from a woman reporting her pantry was on fire. Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and fire rolling out from the home’s first floor.

“She reported everybody was out and no pets trapped,’’ Roy said.

Firefighters began to make an interior attack on the blaze, but Roy said it had already gotten into the walls and spread to the attic. The second floor of the home then caught fire.

Two firefighters had to issue the Mayday calls. A Mayday is when a firefighter is lost and disoriented and can’t find his or her way out.

“The heat and smoke conditions were so bad they broke the windows and bailed out on the first floor,’’ Roy said.

A third firefighter also was overcome by the heat and smoke but did not have to issue a Mayday. That firefighter, too, had to break out a window to escape but he did not issue a Mayday.

As of noon, no one had been transported to the hospital. A cause of the blaze has not been determined.

©2022 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit al.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.