At about 9:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 24, when most people were home filling stockings and putting presents under the tree on a foggy Christmas Eve, a four-seat, single engine airplane caught fire during fueling at Barwick-LaFayette Airport. There were no injuries or damage to the city’s new terminal building now under construction, according to city officials.

“The plane is a total loss,” airport manager Phil Shelton said. Shelton said airport records show the plane’s owner, Ralph Casey of Villanow, was fueling the plane at about 9:23 p.m. Shelton said Casey has had a hangar at the airport for several years.

Casey told first responders there was a spark during fueling, according to Lt. Billy Narmore with the LaFayette Fire Department. Narmore said the initial call came in at 9:31 p.m. from the Pledger Street area reporting there might have been an explosion at the airport. The next call to the fire department reported a plane might have exploded.

Two engines and eight firefighters from the city and one tanker and five firefighers from the Walker County Department of Corrections responded to the blaze.

Narmore said it took about 15 minutes for firefighters to put out the fire using a foam retardant.

The fire remains under investigation.