By Nancy Beal

Beals Island became the scene of a horrendous house fire on March 28, as two island ladies lost their home in a conflagration that required four fire departments to extinguish. 

It took about three hours for the old Danny and Susie Alley homestead, where their daughter and friend were living, to be reduced to ashes and memories. Meanwhile, neighbors, friends, and curious onlookers could only watch and hope the flames would not spread in the tightly packed neighborhood.