Overnight Fire at Hercules Fishing Camp

One home was destroyed and two others damaged at the Hercules Fishing Camp in Gautier after a fire erupted late last night.
Gautier firefighters worked overtime after a home in the Hercules Fishing Camp went up in flames Monday night. The destructive fire damaged two surrounding buildings in the camp. Gautier Fire Captain Gene Killen said, “It was very intense, very hot fire. With the thermal hemorrhaging, we were up to temperatures over 1,000 degrees inside.”
These temperatures made one firefighter suffer from dehydration, but later got clearance to head home. Luckily none of the homes were occupied at the time of the fire, a win for the community, but still a loss for the fishing camp. John Goleman with the Hercules Fishing Camp Board of Directors said, “It’s heartbreaking. It’s been one of the fears of some of us that we would have a fire in here because these camps are very close together. We’re very thankful that they were able to contain it the way they did.”
You can see the drastic difference between the two buildings: one made out of wood is completely black and burned. Another one just a few feet away is made out of hardy plank concrete and is completely untouched and unbothered by flames that reached over 1,000 degrees. “I set up my guys to establish the exposure protection and we were able to keep that one completely intact. Being that close, that’s real amazing. It’s about three or four feet from it and my guys did a great job,” said Captain Killen.
The next step for the camp is to clean up and rebuild what was lost.