UPDATE: Fire in Ferriday destroys house, large portion of Hewitt’s Archery, Roofing businesses
Published 5:20 pm Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
FERRIDAY, La. — Nothing is left of a vacant home that caught on fire Tuesday afternoon on Mickey Gilley Avenue in Ferriday and collapsed. The combined businesses Hewitt Roofing & Sheet Metal and Hewitt’s Archery, located a few feet from the home, also suffered significant damage.
The rear side of the businesses collapsed while firefighters from Ferriday, Vidalia, Jonesville, Sandy Lake, and Tensas Parish fire departments and Concordia Fire District No. 2 all fought to save the building, which still smoldered on Wednesday morning.
The house next to it was fully engulfed at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
The archery business and roofing shop had been in business in Ferriday for more than 30 years.
Ferriday Fire Chief Corey King told reporters that active gas lines located behind Hewitt’s fueled the flames. One was able to be shut off, but the other was underground. That and strong wind blowing in the direction of the business didn’t help matters, King said.
Workers inside the business on E.E. Wallace Boulevard, as well as a family inside another house on Mickey Gilley Avenue, were evacuated early. No one was injured, officials said.
Traffic from E.E. Wallace Boulevard on both sides of the fire was temporarily detoured from the Pentecostal of the Miss Lou Church to Louisiana Avenue.
The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Louisiana State Fire Marshall.