Four volunteer and municipal fire departments converged on the grounds of the long-closed Searcy Hospital in Mount Vernon after an initial report described smoke coming from one of the property’s buildings.
Crews from the Mount Vernon, Turnerville, Creola and Citronelle fire departments were dispatched to the hospital campus on Coy Smith Highway after the initial call came in describing a structure fire. Once firefighters arrived and assessed the scene, they determined the blaze was actually burning in grass and brush on the property rather than inside any building. Three of the four responding departments were subsequently canceled, leaving a single crew to extinguish the fire.
Searcy Hospital operated for decades as a state-owned psychiatric hospital before it was closed permanently on Oct. 31, 2012. The campus in rural Mount Vernon has largely sat empty in the years since, and the initial confusion between a possible structure fire and a grass fire underscores how quickly local fire departments must mobilize when a call comes in involving a large, unoccupied property with limited eyes on it day to day.
Grass and brush fires are not unusual on large, undeveloped or lightly monitored properties, particularly when dry vegetation is present. Rural fire departments in north Mobile County routinely coordinate mutual aid responses for such calls, dispatching multiple units until the scope of a fire can be confirmed on scene, then releasing crews that are not needed once the situation is under control. That appears to be what happened at Searcy Hospital, where three of the four responding departments were sent home once it was clear the fire was contained to grass and brush rather than a building.
No injuries were reported in connection with the fire, and there was no immediate public confirmation of what sparked the blaze. The response nonetheless illustrates the continued burden that large, vacant institutional properties like the former hospital can place on small, volunteer-heavy fire departments in rural Mobile County, which must treat any report of smoke or flame on the property seriously given its size and the number of structures still standing on the grounds.
The hospital campus remains one of the more recognizable landmarks in Mount Vernon, a small community in north Mobile County, and incidents like this one are a reminder that even shuttered public buildings can require ongoing attention from local emergency responders years after they stop operating.