Sidell Fire

Heavy smoke filled the streets of Sidell as more a dozen different fire departments battled the blaze. Billy Puckett just left his aunt's beauty salon, when he got the call about the fire. When he arrived on scene, he described what he saw as, " it was real black, tall bright orange flames...I didn't know what to think."
    Fire crews say it started on the first floor of the Gray Street Salon in the 100 block of Gray Street. It then moved upstairs, then out to the surrounding buildings. " It's huge lose to the village, these are historic factors, "  Lieutenant Cory White of the Sidell Volunteer Fire Department says as he looks on. In a race against time, crews seemed to be losing the battle, as part of the building collapsed and the fire jumped to four other businesses. One of them,  Greg Callahan's. He just looks on, as crews work, waiting. " There's not much we can do," he adds. The smoke got worse forcing fire crews out. Lt. White says that's not the ideal situation as crews fight from the fire from the outside. They didn't have the chance to reach the fire. As time ticked, the water supply in town ran dry. Dozens of tankers came in from out of town, making countless trips to  bring relief to crews.
For store owners like Callahan, all they can do is wait. " As much water that's gone through there, more care about people that are fighting the fire, everything in there is replaceable."
  Only one of the buildings were occupied at the time. The owner of the hair salon called 911 after she heard suspicious noises. The other buildings were used as an appliance store and one was under renovation for apartments. The last was vacant. Crews don't expect to know the cause until at least late tonight or early tomorrow when they can get inside the building. The State Fire Marshall is also investigating.