By By MARY-ALLISON LANCASTER-Managing editor
Appleton and Brewton fire and rescue squads responded to a fire, unrelated to Hurricane Dennis, that occurred on Appleton Road Monday afternoon.
Neighbors, who were busy cleaning debris and moving back into homes after Hurricane Dennis made its landfall Sunday evening, reported the fire when they first noticed smoke rising from the mobile home.
An Appleton rescue official was busy manning the traffic and said the fire "was working when we got here," which was at about 1:15 p.m.
Michael Tyler, also with the Appleton Volunteer Fire Department, said the mobile home was fully involved when they arrived.
Faulk was renting the mobile home and Tyler was not sure who the owner was.
Tina Clements and Dennis Smith, who had evacuated in preparation for the hurricane, were busy putting items back into their home and untying their personal belongings on the porch when they noticed smoke coming out of the mobile home located on 6185 Appleton Road, across the street from Weaver's cemetery.
While fire and rescue squads were busy putting out the fire, which caused major destruction, Clements and Smith continued to unload their belongings into their home, while neighbors down the road cut up a downed tree into small pieces.
While standing on his porch, Smith said they had been living in his home since November and said Faulk was a quiet man who collected antiques. Smith said that he believed the man was planning to move to Florida soon.
Lydia Grimes contributed to this report.